IF YOU DO NOT CHANGE THE POTATOES WILL ROT...

The second day of the Georgia Summit focused on social justice.  Our Lady talked about the behavior of her people and how bad it was.  Her language is reminiscent of the language that brought the plagues to Egypt as described in the book of Exodus.  You can renew your familiarity with her tough words by clicking here.
She makes the point that if we misuse our free will and continue to behave in ways that insult the love of her Son for us, we will bring misery upon ourselves.  She will be forced to let go the arm of her Son and it will come down upon us.  If we convert ourselves and act in accordance with the Divine Will, we will bring well-being into the world.  Fr. Joe Bachand made sure that the connection between the message that was delivered at LaSalette and what is delivered to us in the Gospel is very tight.  One of the reflections that Father Joe made was that the Virgin appeared to two illiterate children.  She spoke to them about very important concepts and then entrusted them with the mission of "making this known to all my people."  This, said Father Joe is our calling.  We are called to bring the message and never forget the tag-line, ..."make this known to everyone."  The trust that this signifies is the most precious gift that is given to human beings.  Like God and His Mother, we have to trust those to whom we are sent to do the work of the mission.  Like Father Joe said, "The drama of the Gospel is in the calling, the training and the sending."

The setting for the second day was very different from that of the first day.  Yesterday [7/21] the setting was an affluent parish with a congregation of mostly Caucasian families.  The day ended with a concert of locally composed spiritual songs.  Today, [7/22] the setting was a multicultural parish, less affluent and home to many different peoples.  The coordinator for the day was an African man with a handy sense of humor and an engaging command of the English language.  The day ended with a display of cultural dances.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

I have been told that tomorrow brings reflections about catechesis.  Don't you wish you'd be there?

Note:  These thoughts are paraphrases from the day as I catch them from the telephone conversation with my favorite participant at the event.  We are trying to capture the truth as well as the spice.  I hope you don't mind.