Hi Everyone,
For all of us working in Catholic cemeteries, the words “Holy Ground” have often represented the physical place that we bury the dead. Today I’d like you to consider expanding this understanding.
One of the great spiritual writers of the past 50 years in the U.S. was a priest who emigrated from the Netherlands named Henri Nouwen. One of his favorite insights that he loved to share with people and invited them to ponder was this:
“The distance between us is “HOLY GROUND.”
I suspect that he was trying to help us see that physical distance was not the true way of measuring how close or far we are to others. The true measurement was based on the depth of our care and concern for each other. The more we care the closer we will be!
As we continue to experience social distancing, I’d like to ask you to do something today that I plan on doing.
Take a few seconds to picture each member of your staff. As you picture that person, thank God for the blessing that he/she is to you, to our team, and to our mission. Then simply pray that God will abundantly bless him and her today.
Lastly, I know that many of you meet a family who we serve in a special and often personal way. Let’s picture those families as they return home and ask God to give them abundant graces as they deal with the emotional and physical loss of a family member.
And as we pray for one another and the families we serve, perhaps we can simply say in our hearts this deepest truth:
“The distance between us is HOLY GROUND!”
With gratitude and blessings,
Robert