7/27/2024 Email

You are all probably aware that this week the long awaited National Eucharistic Conference
is being held in Indianapolis, with 50,000 lay people, 1500 clergy, and 200 bishops and
cardinals in attendance. Our own Bishop Knestout is there along with a strong delegation
from our diocese. If you, like me, are not there, you can keep up with the happenings on the
Diocese’s Facebook page or through the Catholic Virginian with links on the Diocesan
homepage: https://richmonddiocese.org/.
Closer to home, I am keeping my theology simple this week. In fact, I’m taking it back to the
basics of what I learned in Sunday School growing up – the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you.”
You see, I am worried. I am worried that we move on too quickly from assassination
attempts that killed an innocent man, from wars far away that catch our attention for a little
while but fade with time, from day after day of mass shootings that numb us to their real
impact on real people. I could go on.
I can’t solve these things. But I can be kind to people. I can let that car merge in front of me.
I can pause before I hit send on a less than charitable email. I can listen to the cashier at
Walgreens when she tells me about her first ever cruise even though I’m late for work.
No, these little gestures won’t bring about world peace or domestic tranquility. I do believe
that people are fundamentally good, though, and I believe that this simple Bible verse from
the Gospel of Mark should be the basis for how we interact with everyone, all the time.
Easier said than done, I know, but let’s keep trying.
God Bless,
Margaret
P.S. My family is heading to Jackson Hole for vacation, so I am going to take next week oƯ
from writing to you. Moose is on vacation, too, at his friends’ farm in Hanover, so you won’t
hear from him either!