A Thanksgiving Story
(Letters)
The following is background information that will provide some understanding for the letter that I wrote one year ago while returning home from my pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
I made my pilgrimage with a group of 50 people from my hometown of Belleville, Illinois. Our spiritual leader for the trip was my cousin, Bishop Stanley Schlarman from Belleville. The tour had been organized by the Belleville Diocesan Catholic Newspaper, “The Messenger”. One of the three members of the newspaper staff who accompanied us on the trip was a young man named Mark. Mark, who was single, was a reporter and photographer for the newspaper. In addition, he was my roommate during the eight-day pilgrimage.
The group from Belleville flew to Zurich, Switzerland and then flew onto Tel-Aviv Israel. I flew from Washington, D.C. to Zurich. I joined the group in Zurich and flew onto Israel with them. On the return trip, we were delayed in Zurich due to a snowstorm. I had sat with the group at their flight gate during much of the delay. My departure gate was at the far end of the airport from the group’s gate.
I wrote the beginning of the following letter to Mark while I sat at my departure gate and the balance of the letter while I traveled on the flight from Zurich to D.C. The little old lady was traveling to the Washington D.C. area to visit with her daughter for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
In reflection, this letter reminds me of how the thankful we may be or should be for the many seemingly simple occurrences in our lives.
Love in Christ, Jim
Dear Mark, November 18, 1999
I’m sitting at the boarding dock awaiting the boarding of my flight SR-128 to D.C. At the present we will be at least ½ hour late before leaving because we are waiting for passengers from a connecting flight. Seems as though that the weather has the whole airport behind schedule.
I’ve been setting next to an elderly lady who is from the Republic of Bulgaria. She is nerveous. She does not speak much English. She and I have befriended. She is a very sweet lady. She has tried to explain that she is on standby. She is uncertain of her passage to the U.S. today. She is traveling to visit with her daughter in D.C. I pray that she does get on a flight to D.C. today.
The boarding area is now filled up. Everyone is here. The weather delay as you know creates a lot of anxiety for many of the travelers. The delay presents a small cross and an opportunity to see how we are not in control of our lives.
We just received the announcement that we will begin boarding the plane in several minutes.
I am now on the plane. While waiting the last few minutes to board, I was thinking how I would word the next part of this letter. I had planned to say that I believe that I saw the Holy Spirit working in both your life and mine during the past week. Through our experiences with befriending some of the strangers in our lives during these few short days, I saw how we (you) came to see how we (you) can easily and simply live out with simple acts, Christ’s command to love the poor. The poor, whether it be in spirit, health or possessions. They are all around us everyday, wherever we are, if we only open up our hearts to see them.
As I approached the boarding gate, I passed the little old lady who was now seated up front near the gate. We had moved our seating locations as a result of going through the passport validation line. I asked her if she had gotten a seat. She said no, don’t worry about me. I squeezed her hand, she smiled and as I moved along onto the jet-way I realized that I had tears in my eyes.
As I settled into my aisle seat numbered 31J, I began to make acquaintance with my companion, Bob who was seated by the window. Several minutes later I looked up. Guess who I saw standing in front of me. It was the little old lady from Bulgaria. I said in astonishment, “you made it”! She smiled. I assisted her with putting her two bags into the overhead bins. She was not more than five feet tall.
Believe it or not, she was assigned the aisle seat number 31G directly across the aisle from me. Miracles do happen!
I have just looked over at her. She is all snuggled up in her seat and she is sound asleep. She looks so peaceful.
Oh, how we receive God’s graces as we show charity to his poor.
As I had put my pen and pad away for now, I opened the magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization, “The Rock”, to it’s feature article, “Be Perfect”. Ruth had given this magazine at the airport today.
As I began to read the article, I realized that the Holy Spirit was still at work. The introductory page to this article contained an awesome message and confirmation of what I had just written to you only a few minutes before.
I am including the wording from this introduction for your prayerful reference.
We are now ready for the take-off at 1:48 PM. We are only 1 hour and 45 minutes late!
I pray that you and the rest of the group have a safe and timely return to your homes.
Yours in Christ,
Love, Jim.
P.S. We have been in flight about six and half-hours. The little old lady and I have bonded. I have been her helper throughout the flight.
Written by Jim Cordie, 11/1999