Michigan | Encounters for which to say “thank you”
Father Piero Masolo, PIME missionary, in one of his letters tells us about the month of November in Michigan
Dear Friends,
the first snowfalls of November have whitened Michigan creating a muffled, snow-white, special atmosphere.
Sure, it’s cold: we’ve dropped down to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-4°C), and you have to be more careful behind the wheel, but the snow makes you want to play, makes you lighter, and shows a beauty that often escapes us.
The threads of life are strange: sometimes they break and, when you don’t expect it, they come back together.
Such is the case for me with Myanmar.
Meeting a Kayah family in Lansing (Michigan) and the Burmese community in Fort Wayne (Indiana) were unexpected gifts.
Meanwhile, Zibwe (the owl in Burmese) brings good luck and sees far into the night, waiting for hope to return for this people battered by civil war, and for its Church.
Each week, we celebrate morning Mass with young Chaldean nuns, originally from Iraq.
Metro Detroit is home to the largest Iraqi community outside the country, including many Christians who attend ten Chaldean-rite parishes where many vocations are flourishing.
Praying the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic: Abana alathi fi asamawat… moves me, taking me back to Algeria, another country and a small Church not to be forgotten.
November 28 here is “Thanksgiving”: the feast of gratitude, a familiar time, very strong in the States. I wonder: for what and for whom can we thank the Lord this year? It is good to start Advent by giving thanks, looking well for the reasons can’t be missed, and they can be very simple…
I embrace you, united in prayer
(Fr. Piero Masolo, Newletter November 2024)
Source and image
- spazio + spadoni
- Father Piero Masolo