Creating a Home in the Love of God
by Fr. Dave Kelly, c.pp.s., pbmr Director
Relationships are hard. It takes work to maintain
a healthy relationship—with God, your spouse, or
even your children. It should be no surprise, then,
that it also takes work to transform broken rela-
tionships into healthy relationships—creating a
beloved community, a community of hope.
In reality, the work of reconciliation is counter-
intuitive—rather than moving away from pain and
hurt, you move toward it. You move into the pain and
the hurt and stand in that muddled mess. It is not
that we are seeking more pain in our lives, but rather
that God lives in the suffering of his people. We are
called to stand alongside those who are hurting.
We do a circle every Thursday at the only
Catholic school in our area. It is a small school,
serving many of the poor of our community. I can-
not imagine any of the children paying much of a
tuition. As our last circle concluded, a young girl
handed a note to one of the staff. It was a long note,
but the message was simple—she and her family
of nine were recently evicted from their apart-
ment. They were now living in a hotel—and not the
Holiday Inn type of hotel.
Given all that we are already trying to deal
with—other families who struggle to maintain a
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April 2018 • The New Wine Press • 11