A simple act of kindness can stop a million tears. A little hug can give so much joy. A letter now and then to someone can save so many wasted years. We should hold every moment precious and help as many as we can with a simple act of kindness every now and then. The world would be a better place if we all cared a little more. Imagine how many smiling faces would greet us at the door if we extended that helping hand with a simple act of kindness that could spread across many lands. David Harris A HEARTWARMING SHARED WITH THE ROSCOMMON HERALD IN COUNTY ROSCOMMON LETTER FOR IRELAND FROM 107-YEAR-OLD NANCY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020 Ireland’s oldest citizen, Nancy Stewart, aged 107, has written an amazing letter to encourage everyone in these difficult and anxious times. Dear sir – My name is Nancy Stewart and I was born on the 16th of October 1913. This weekend I turn 107 years of age. Imagine turning 107 in a world pandemic. This definitely is something very unusual even for me and all I have been through. I live in Clonard in County Meath and have lived in my home for over 83 years. I lost my husband in a car crash in 1989, and lost my twin daughters Margaret in 2007 to motor neurone and Anne in 2010 to utter heartbreak of losing her sister. I’ve lost all my friends throughout the years which comes with living so long on this earth. I’m very lucky to still have three daughters Kathleen, Mary and Olive and one son Finian and I have 84 grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. I have faced many heart-breaking moments and also have seen many hard times in our country witnessing world wars, division in our people and numerous sad times for our nation. I write to you today to send you my love and to offer you my prayers. We are in a very difficult time at the moment in our country, in our lives and in our world. But I reach out to you in this letter to offer you hope, faith and belief that everything will be ok in the end. We are in another stage of this battle against the virus but we will get through this. Like everything I’ve been through since the day I was born in 1913, no matter how bad things have got, I’m the living proof that we can survive and in years to come, this will just be a distant memory. I have a great faith and it has helped me keep positive throughout the struggles I’ve met. I thank you for keeping your faith and for keeping your resilience strong, through this hard time. Sadly, for the moment, we can no longer stretch out to a friend and embrace them nor can we call to each other’s houses. But I’m here to share my story. I have been in lockdown in my house since March, alongside my granddaughter Louise and even though it has been a tough time, we have got through it together. We drink tea. We say prayers. We bake. We laugh. We make phone calls. I can even video call lots of my family and friends and am making new friends every day that God gives me on this earth. And that’s a very important thing to say. If you are feeling low, make sure to try call someone or even go for a walk. I also ask God to help me if I’m feeling low. This is a hard time for everyone but please make sure you keep yourself well and wear your mask. If you keep healthy, your mind will stay healthy too. Keep talking to one another. All my life I have always believed in chatting and drinking tea and saying a prayer or a decade of the rosary and it has got me through. This is our moment to keep our faith and to keep believing that everything will turn out ok. We must try to make sure we leave nobody behind and also that we don’t lose sight of each other. This is a moment for humanity to step forward to take care of the other. We must mind ourselves but we must also mind all those around us. Look up and smile even if you have your mask on. Your eyes will smile and that might be all someone needs to keep going. No good deed ever goes unnoticed so try your best to keep being good. We are not here to live for ourselves but to live for each other. I can’t believe I’ve made it to this age, I only feel like I’m 50 but now that I’m here, all I can say is please God I’ll be here for my next birthday. We must always look forward. I can’t believe I’m the oldest person in Ireland living in my own home, I don’t feel that old. When God wants me, he will come take me but for now I will keep enjoying my life, I’ll keep loving my family and I’ll keep saying my prayers day by day…. oh and not to forget eating lots of good wholesome food is my tip. Good food and lots of tea is my secret to a long life as well as keeping positive as best we can. We must always look forward and hope for the best. Thank you for thinking of me in your prayers and your thoughts and I promise I will think of you in my many rosaries I say every day. Thank you so much for reading my letter also and I hope I have, in even a little way, helped you feel less alone in this moment. There is always hope and once we keep talking to one another, no day will seem empty and we can get through this together. It only takes a small candle to take away the dark and in each of us, we can be that light in the world. This hard time will indeed pass like all the rest and all that matters is that we helped each other through. Many blessings and much love, Granny Nancy x Clonard, Co Meath. Ireland Things our Mother’s Taught Us

My Mother taught me LOGIC.... “If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can’t go to the store with me.”

My Mother taught me MEDICINE.... “If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’re going to freeze that way.”

My Mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD.... “If you don’t pass your spelling test, you’ll never get a good job.”

My Mother taught me ESP.... “Put your sweater on; don’t you think that I know when you’re cold.”

My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE.... “What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you...Don’t talk back to me.”

My Mother taught me HUMOR.... “When that lawnmower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”

My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT.... “If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”

My Mother taught me ABOUT SEX.... “How do you think you got here?”

My Mother taught me about GENETICS.... “You are just like your father.”

My Mother taught me about my ROOTS.... “Do you think you were born in a barn?”

My Mother taught me about the WISDOM OF AGE.... “When you get to be my age, you will understand.”

My Mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.... “Just wait until your father gets home.”

My Mother taught me about RECEIVING.... “You are going to get it when we get home.”

And my all time favorite thing - - JUSTICE.... “One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU.... then you’ll see what it’s like. The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist

Something has happened to the bread and the wine.

They have been blessed. What now? The body leans forward

to receive the gift from the priest’s hand, then the chalice.

They are something else now from what they were before this began.

I want to see Jesus maybe in the clouds

or on the shore, just walking, beautiful man

and clearly someone else besides.

On the hard days I ask myself if I ever will.

Also there are times my body whispers to me that I have.

Poem by Mary Oliver AND THE PEOPLE STAYED AT HOME

And people stayed home and read books and listened and rested and exercised and made art and played and learned new ways of being and stopped and listened deeper someone meditated someone prayed someone danced someone met their shadow and people began to think differently and people healed and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways, dangerous, meaningless and heartless, even the earth began to heal and when the danger ended and people found each other grieved for the dead people and they made new choices and dreamed of new visions and created new ways of life and healed the earth completely just as they were healed.

Poem by Irish-French author, Kathleen O'Meara

The very first Easter

Author unknown

Lockdown

Yes, there is fear. Yes, there is isolation. Yes, there is panic buying. Yes, there is sickness. Yes, there is even death. But, they say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise, you can hear the birds again. They say that after just a few weeks of quiet, the sky is no longer thick with fumes, but blue and grey and clear. They say that in the streets of Assisi, people are singing to each other across the empty squares, keeping their windows open, so that those who are alone may hear the sounds of family around them. They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound. Today, a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers with her number through the neighborhood, so that the elderly may have someone to call on. Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, and the weary. All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way.

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality, to how big we really are. To how little control we really have. To what really matters. To Love. So we pray and we remember that, Yes, there is fear. But, there does not have to be hate, Yes, there is isolation. But, there does not have to be loneliness. Yes, there is panic buying. But, there does not have to be meanness. Yes, there is sickness. But, there does not have to be disease of the soul. Yes, there is even death. But, there can always be a rebirth of love. Open the window of your soul, and though you may not be able to touch across the empty square, Sing. Brother Richard Hendrick (Capuchin Franciscan) Poem: Pandemic BY LYNN UNGAR

What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath — the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And when your body has become still, reach out with your heart. Know that we are connected in ways that are terrifying and beautiful. (You could hardly deny it now.) Know that our lives are in one another’s hands. (Surely, that has come clear.) Do not reach out your hands. 4th Week of Lent--2020 Reach out your heart. Reach out your words. Reach out all the tendrils of compassion that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch. Promise this world your love — for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Church so long as we all shall live. 102 Lorenz Rd San Antonio, TX 78209 Pastor: Fr. Kevin Shanahan, M.S.C.