The Pope Spoke to America and Her Congress Today.....

Mrs. Joanne is a devout Catholic.  Mrs. Joanne has Alzheimers, but she remembered that the Pope is speaking to the American Congress, and other congregations at various locations in Washington D.C. and New York today.

The Pope, and everything he represents for her and others, holds a very powerful Emotional Memory Response for her, and her equally devout husband, Mr. Al.

When I arrived to take of her today, she did not want to drive out to the park for a walk and to feed the geese, ducks and other wild birds near the River as we so often do.

No, she wanted to eat Breakfast, and sit down in front of her television set to Listen to and Watch Pope Francis deliver his Words and Actions of deep Wisdom, Love and Compassionate Action to America and the World.

I was raised as a Protestant.  But my Life’s Experiences have made me more of a Universalist regarding the World’s Religions.  Christ is my mainstay, but I honor most Religious traditions.  I have always considered them to be the many Faces - the many Personas of God - of the Great Spirit - of the Great Cosmic Creator.

I often drive Mrs. Joanne out to her local Catholic Church.  We’ll sit in the Children’s Prayer Garden together, and while she Prays to God with and through her beautiful Rosary Beads, I’ll Pray to God through all of the Natural wonders of Flora and Fauna - of Earthly Garden Delight surrounding us.

Since I was raised in the Protestant tradition, I don’t really know any Catholic songs other than The Lord’s Prayer, but fortunately, Mrs. Joanne is also a Singer and a Musician, and she knows quite a few old Gospel Songs.

So, she and I will break out singing and harmonizing “Amazing Grace” and “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”.  Then we’ll walk around the Garden for a while, and take off for our next Adventure for the Day.

On the way back to Mrs. Joanne’s Home, she’ll usually pat me on my arm and say, “You’re a Nice Girl.  A Good Girl.”

And I’ll pat her arm and say,  “And you’re a Nice Lady, Mrs. Joanne.  A Good Soul.”

And she’ll nod and smile.  And I’ll nod and smile.  And we’ll sit together in a Sweet Silence for a while listening to the classical music play on the car radio as I drive.

As Mrs. Joanne, Mr. Al and I Listened to and Watched the Pope Speak to the American Congress on their large plasma television set, we would all occasionally glance at one another and smile as we wiped the Tears of Tender Hope and Joy from our Eyes from time to time.  None of us were embarrassed to see the others crying.  In fact, in some odd way it was warmly comforting.

When the Pope finished, and then went out to speak to the awaiting throng on the White House Balcony overlooking the impressive mall area, covered by wriggling, cheering, expectant Human Beings, we all smiled at one another and began discussing the Pope’s Message of the Common Good of America and the World, and some of the things that entailed and meant for each one of us. 

Afterwards, as the newscasters spun their takes on the Pope’s Words and Impressions on the Congress and the huge Crowd, Mrs. Joanne decided that she was ready for a drive.

I proposed another one of Mrs. Joanne’s favorite haunts, the Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery and Prayer Garden.  She smiled widely, and we were off.

Some folks might wonder at our frequent visitations to a Cemetery, even if it does have a beautiful Prayer Garden and Trail that wends around the side of a large, heavily wooded creek which runs through the very center of the Prayer Garden.

Well, I have never feared Cemeteries.  I have always seen them to be Sacred Places of Family Legacies and Human Histories.

Energetic Threads of Humanity moving and intertwining throughout the Whole of Earth’s Ancient History/Herstory.

We Humans are the Living Dust of the Earth and the Cosmos constantly Transforming, Evolving until we return to other Energetic Forms within the Earth’s Womb or, as in my Mom’s case, because she wanted to be Cremated, a part of the Earth, the Grasses, Trees and Living Waters of the Family Fields and the Great Blue Skies of the Home, Hearts and Souls my Mama, and many, many others have left behind.

Sometimes, on strangely sunlit days, I imagine feeling and seeing Mom’s Energies on the shimmering tips of the Wings of the Bees, Butterflies and Hummingbirds she so Loved and Nurtured with her myriad of multicolored Flowers and Homemade Sugar Water Nectar.

So, I gladly helped Mrs. Joanne into the passenger’s seat of my car and buckled her up for safety.  And we headed out for the Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery and Prayer Garden for a Walk-’n-Talk Meditation and Sing-a-long.

And all because the Pope Spoke to America and Her Congress today, and Mrs. Joanne and I have so much to Pray about and Say about the Common Good of America and the World……