An April Shower (04/19/2026)

On Monday night, our former rural parish church was hit by the powerful storms that rolled across southern Wisconsin. The roof was torn off the church. My grandson and his fiancé were devastated not just because their wedding was scheduled there in early July but because of the meaning that church has in their lives and the lives of family. Then, five days later, yesterday, Saturday, we had a wedding shower for my soon-to-be granddaughter-in-law. It was a much more joyful “shower” than the one earlier in the week with friends and family coming together to celebrate our loving hopes and dreams for the couple.

I found it so fitting how the second shower, one of loving hope, followed the first, one of loss. I was so grateful for the wedding shower because I knew the couple could use a little redirection, a little focus on what will be because of love and a focus on the presence and support of family and friends. As I gave thanks to the LORD for the uncanny timing of the wedding shower, I prayed that the couple will be able to carry the memory of so many supporting them.

We are called by our savior and Lord to be people of hope, to be resurrection people recognizing that we will have days of loss, Good Fridays. We are called to gather together in loving relationships most especially during those periods of loss, supporting one another, loving one another, and seeking the guidance and grace of the Spirit to carry on for love of our Lord and love of one another. Every person and every community will experience loss, but every person and every community is called to be that loving beacon to the other in the stormy patches. We aren’t meant to make this journey alone. We are meant to make it with our ever-present Lord and with one another, as companions led by faith, buoyed by hope, and fueled by love.

In the end, we must remember that our quest is a journey and the “where” is not as important as the “who”.  We are journeying to a full life with our Lord and the most important thing to remember is to be people of love along the way. There will be losses, pain and suffering along the way, but we are not alone, and that makes all the difference.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.