Actions Speak Louder Than Words

“I will pray,” says one.

“I will act,” says another.

The hillbilly common-sense version of that is “Wish in one hand, shit in the other, and see which one fills up first.”

“Thoughts and prayers” alone won’t cut it.

Action is required.

Even the many school shooting victims speak from their graves, though the voices we hear are our own, telling us “thoughts and prayers” alone won’t cut it.

As healers, you know that’s true, because

Reflective Reflections Reflecting Reflectance; Reflectometer

The following is a collection of thoughts meant to inspire my continued observations, and from which you, hopefully, may take some encouragement and thoughtful repose.

• Having recently attended a Memorial Mass for a former pastor of my parish, I was impressed with a the homilist’s description of the late priest’s latter years. He was in constant pain from injuries – then unknown – which he sustained in an automobile wreck earlier in his life. Though he NEVER ONCE complained, he would let others know he was in pain. Analogously, the homilist referenced the day’s scripture verse, Malachi 3:2b-3a “For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3“He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver.” He recollected how one woman in his own parish had sought to learn about the process of refining silver, and had shared the silversmith said the silver MUST be held IN THE FIRE CONSTANTLY to purify it. She asked, “How do you know when it’s pure?” His reply was, “When I look into it and see my reflection.”

• I have endured hardship in my life, and historically,