This evening, at table, as we were praying the Angelus before supper, I felt some worries weighing upon me. I had (and still do for that matter) A LOT of pumpkin to process. There just don’t seem to be enough days in the week to get everything done this time of year.I didn’t know if and when we’d be able to have Mass tomorrow. (the Mass schedule has become my responsibility.)

Before I let my worries carry me off too far, words from a song we had used at Bible study this morning came back to admonish me:

What a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

all because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer.

In this ecumenical Bible study, which I lead for our residents, we use a variety of hymns from both Catholic and protestant faith traditions. I have printed several on overhead transparencies. It is neat to sing along with our residents. I’ve even shared a few I knew from our youth group back home. They have caught on quite nicely

The above-mentioned hymn, which I was not familiar with growing up, really has a lot to tell us. It spoke to me tonight.

Rather than worrying about how I was going to get all the pumpkin cut and cooked up and what was going to happen regarding tomorrow’s Mass, I should be simply bringing it to Jesus.

~ ~ ~

As it turns out, I found a priest for tomorrow’s Mass and one of our cooks is interested in taking some of the pumpkin off my hands.