News - June 2019 RSS Feed

Aston, PA — June 23, 2019— Sister Marie Inez Gonzales, OSF, 85, died in Assisi House on Wednesday, June 19. She had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 66 years.

June 21st is a great day of the year:  the start of summer!
When I was a child, summer seemed to last forever.  The summer highlight was a family road trip – a week or two, all together in the family station wagon or on my Dad’s beloved long distance trains.   Beyond that much-anticipated adventure, my summertime memories are filled with ordinary things:  biking in a nearby park, borrowing (a lot!) from the county library,  whiling away afternoons with my grandfather, spoiling my cat, spending long evenings in the backyard, eating more ice cream than I should have, and sharing more time with the people I loved.

In these weeks when spring gives way to summer, many celebrate the Ordinations of new priests – new shepherds who, in these difficult days, commit the rest of their lives to the sacred service of God and the people of God. It is also the time when others celebrate the anniversaries of their own Ordinations.   These Ordinations are times of great celebration and rejoicing.  But, no less worthy of celebration and rejoicing are the many days when that vocation is lived with fidelity in unnoticed ways in ordinary times.  

Al saber que uno de nuestros familiares va a fallecer pronto, la idea de pensar que ya jamás volveremos a ver a esa persona nos entristece demasiado. Quizás, la muerte de algún familiar llegue inesperadamente. En mi experiencia pastoral, he tenido algunos casos de personas que han fallecido repentinamente y que los familiares no saben que hacer. En estos casos, debemos de estar conscientes que es deber de los familiares el avisar a las autoridades pertinentes cuando un familiar fallece.

My fondest memories of summer are the times spent with my favorite aunt at her cottage nestled in the Adirondack Mountains. As a middle school teacher, she had a gift for relating to kids in a way very different from parents, like a wise friend or a trusted confidante. My aunt patiently taught us how to knit and sew; she listened to our stories and nurtured our dreams as if each niece or nephew were the only one.