Help

I am not much of a movie-goer, but someone last week was absolutely raving about the movie 'The Help', and since it is still summer, and schedules are a bit kicked back, a friend and I went to the matinee the other day.  What we saw was a really good movie.  It is set in the South before Civil Rights, but was a heart-warming story of what happens when we live by our convictions and remain true to ourselves, even in the face of oppression and cultural pressure.  So often it is much easier to go along with the crowd, or water down our standards because we feel we will not be accepted if we maintain the values we hold.  Hopefully we all can be empowered to stand up for what we believe, and in the process truly make a difference in the world in which we live and work and play.

This weekend, our 'summer seminarian' bid farewell as he heads back to Washington DC and Year 2 of his preparation for priesthood.  However, it seems like he wasn't here that long, and in fact, he wasn't.  He had the opportunity to go to the Holy Land and to Rome for a month, and he took advantage of that, returning home this past week.  He enjoyed his trip, his experiences in different cultures, and visiting those places we read about in the Scriptures.  And, he did not forget his pastor.  He came back with a special Red Sox shirt for me - in Hebrew!  Maybe that will be my next collection, since I now have Red Sox shirts in English, Italian, and now Hebrew!