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Show small hog hans and a corra l of dead jun1per branches, and a b ea ut1ful old woman sitting insid e , wa iting for us. After a proper pause at the door, and proper gr e etings and s ome desultory conversat10n we asked her age . "Hola " wa~ the a nswer, but she volunteered the information that she had b een told that she was born three years after the return from " We ld e"-Fort Sumn er. 1868 plus 3 a nd the sum subtracted from 1967 l eft a me r e 96 . Hard of hearing , utterly devoid of Chr1st1an background, her only compan10n a l3-year-old grandson who had no schooling, her eyes fai11ng-all this makes communica tion far from simple. But she held the small crucifix in her hand and f elt the figure of the Re deemer, listening to the story of God's r e de eming love. If the fundamentals can be taught r and are acce pted , another soul can be mad e ready for e t ernity. Pray for Sara h. The little hoghan church of St. Mary of the Moonlight is still our mee ting place with our Lord, and e very Sunday sees from one to three score gather ed to praise our ~~k e r and listen to the everlasting Gospel. Nobody is in a hurry. This is thA land of plenty of t1me and plenty of space . Mas s may be late in sta rting--peop1e are more important that c10cks--the Scripture r ea d ings are in ~ ng 1ish a nd in NavajO, the s ermons--maybe one in each l a ng uage or ma ybe one which Jumps back and forth from one to the oth er, perhaps e ven in the midd l e of a s entence ! The he i ght of informality is found in what ma ny think of as the most formalistic church on earth! Aft er the blessing a nd fina l hymn, the in evitable coffee hour, and Sunda y School for all a ges. Our buildings near compl etion. As yet there is no official da t e for moving in. Optimists say Ea ste r week, peSSimists July 5th. But we do have heat, some running wa t er, a toil e t which makes the painfully rustic chic ksa l e obsole t e , lig ht; the floors are covered with und er1ayment and t he Cong o1eum of a pleasing deSi gn, a nd we await only the slow and important last-minute finishing touches--clos ets, cabinets, shelving, painting , grading and planting . An especia lly ea r-marked donation has mad e possible a contract for stone work a ll a r ound the bas es of both buildings. This will add much, both to the appea ranc e and stability, of the structures, not to me ntion insulation. We a r e pa rticularly happy about this contract: the workers are a man and his son-in-law, two rare specimens of NavajO who have declin ed to go on r elief, although desperately poor, preferring to maintain their dignit y a nd s elf r espect in the tradition of th eir forefathers. This Job will tid e th em over until shearing . time when they can s ell the ir wool. Two of the f a mily, so far, have been brought to Baptism. We look forward to a pent-house which w1ll be our Oratory, not only for our own daily devotions, but for the r etreat me et1ngs. More of that in our next MESSAGE. As ye t we have not b een in a posit10n to 1nvite r e trea tants. We did plan a short r etreat just for ours elves, w1th Father Jos epth, O. S.F. conduct1ng , but his plans had to b e · changed. We still look forward to this spiritua l tr eat; how e ver, a MESSAGE should tell of what has happened and not Just what we hope for. A blessed Eestert1de to you all! ! |
