By Pat Haggerty

As young children we learn that God is everywhere. In fact, my little catechism from my French elementary school posed the question:  Où est Dieu?  The answer:  Il est partout. (Where is God?/He is everywhere).

We were told  that we could find God in ourselves, in others, in the world around us, in church, and particularly in the Eucharist.  This is such a magnanimous concept, yet, one we believe in and attest to.

Sometimes we experience God in a truly remarkable way---one that touches the core of our very being.  It is a true grace from God to be moved in such a way.  It doesn’t happen always, but it does happen.  A friend recently told me of an experience she had at a Youth Mass.  She said she felt truly embraced by God and was moved to tears.  Many things throughout the liturgy brought her to this place of spirituality and sensitivity.  We are blessed when such a feeling occurs.

By Pat Haggerty

As I was heading for a vacation to the coast of New Hampshire, a friend of mine told me I should write a blog about lighthouses.  I thought it might be too trite.  You know, the beach theme is always focused on starfish, sand dollars and the intricacy of the various shells found scattered on the shoreline.  There is nothing wrong with that!  People spend hours scanning the beaches for just such memorabilia.  However, if anything is still alive, I would hope that item would be thrown back into the sea.  Just like the legend of the starfish. A young man was seen throwing star fish into the sea. An old man observed the ritual and asked the young man why he was doing that since there were so many starfish, and he couldn’t possibly make a difference.  The young man replied, “Made a difference to that one!”

By Pat Haggerty

We are all experiencing a myriad of emotions following the horrific massacre in Orlando.  We sense anger, bewilderment, pain, loss, frustration, emptiness and sorrow.  Why did such a senseless act have to occur?  We can look at and for many reasons.  Yet, that doesn’t put a balm on our hurt and the hurt of our nation.  The pain that some are experiencing is worse than others.  For the parents, families, and friends of the slain victims, the pain must be nearly unbearable.

What we have to do now is for each of us to take our own action.  To think about this incident with all of its ramifications and decide what we can do from this point on.  This will involve some soul-searching and deep reflection.  Does it mean we will be more tolerant?  Does it mean we will be more accepting of diversity?  Does it mean we will help with funding for those injured?   Does it mean we will be pro-active in terms of specific legislation?

However this affects us, it should certainly motivate us to be more loving.  For those of you who saw Lin-Manuel Miranda during the Tony Awards, you know he wrote an impassioned sonnet as an acceptance speech.  It has come to be known as the “Love is Love” speech.

By Pat Haggerty

Are you a collector of quotations?  A lover of quotations?  A searcher of quotations?  I wouldn’t say that I am a collector, but I do have a few quotations that are my favorites.  I tend to pull them out at the right moment and use them when applicable.  For example, when I was a teacher, I often liked to quote Einstein:  “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  As a service-learning proponent, I often quoted Mahatma Gandhi:  “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

For now, at this time, as I think about the feast of Corpus Christi, another Einstein quote comes to mind:  “There are two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”  In the gospel for the feast of Corpus Christi, the story of one of the greatest miracles is recounted.  Luke tells us that after a busy day of preaching and healing Jesus and his disciples are about to dismiss the crowds.  However, Jesus tells his disciples to give the crowds some food. They reply with, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.” We know what happens next.  The crowds sit down in groups and the disciples feed them with what they have.  “They all ate and were satisfied.  And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.” (Luke 9:17)