This was one of those weeks when nothing seems Chronicle-worthy. If you are a regular reader, you’ve probably had enough weather reports to last for a while. Since this Chronicler was having a severe case of writer’s block, I decided to take a walk around the Center and see if the Spirit would move the stone away just a bit and let some light in.
As I walked, I paused in several rooms, looked out the window hoping to see inspiration and found none. So I kept walking until I stopped in the library. Again, I found nothing remarkable outside these windows, but when I turned around, something did catch my eye. Just a sliver of light, but light none the less.
For more than two years, one of our volunteers was inspired to work diligently several afternoons a month to sort through hundreds of books donated to us by Fr. Bob, the Holy Cross Sisters in Merrill and others. These wonderful people were inspired to share with St. Anthony’s and all our guests countless books that had inspired them but, for various reasons, they no longer needed. Mike carefully sorted through the books to find some we did not have in our library and added them to our collection. Where he found duplicates, he may have chosen to replace a well-worn copy with one in better condition. Other duplicates found their way to the Second Chance section of the Bookstore where guests can take some inspiration home with them for a bargain price.
Of course, after Mike selected dozens of new books to add to the library, he had to do some reorganizing so they would all fit. New labels on the shelves and an updated index help guests find something to inspire them while they are here on retreat.
If you haven’t visited the library recently because you thought you read everything we had, perhaps it is time to check again. If you’ve never visited the library, next time you are here, why not stop in, pause for a moment and see if the Spirit doesn’t inspire you to pick up a book to read during your stay.
For the inspiration to notice and appreciate what others were inspired to do, we say Deo Gratias!