“How wonderful that no one need wait a single moment to improve the world.” – Anne Frank

I read something the other day that got me thinking. It said that there is only one degree of difference between the temperature of ice and that of water. If you think about it, that doesn’t seem like a lot of difference in heat needed to produce an entirely different state of matter.

In the same way, maybe the efforts one of us here puts forth at any given time, no matter how seemingly slight, are, in fact, the one degree of effort that St. Anthony’s needs in order to stay in a state of continual functionality.

Perhaps the days’ work of one volunteer, or the joyful recollection of St. Anthony’s to one stranger, or the intercessory prayer of one sympathetic friend, has brought us over a threshold – or multiple thresholds – to continue doing what God calls us to do here, every day.

And, in fact, maybe the presence of our volunteers actually changes our state of being, not only from non-functional to functional, but from a workplace into a “homeplace”: a haven – of the most sincere ‘agape’ love and hospitality.

So, dear volunteers of St. Anthony’s, I want to thank you so very much for all the extra help you have given, especially on the days when you have already done so much. For committing to one more week, for saying one more prayer, for picking up one more piece of rubbish, for offering one more idea, for delighting us with one more joke, for giving one more hug.

I believe that, because we all work together in our mutual calling to preserve and build up this Franciscan community within our community, these constant, seemingly trivial works of life-giving warmth are converged and magnified into an ongoing state-changer, paradigm-shifter, miracle-maker, whatever you would like to call it.

It is the ability of St. Anthony’s to keep its doors of hospitality open and to always overcome potential obstacles to our mission. And it would not exist without all of your generous and habitual acts of goodness.

So that is all to say: I thank God for you, and I thank YOU for you!

May God bless you abundantly and always.

– cg, Guest Chronicler