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Welcome to all new website visitors!
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Dear Friends,
It has always been so intriguing to discover where "The Camel Knows The Way" has landed. It is on a millionaire's yacht going around the world; it is also on Death Row in Livingston, Texas.
One day I received a letter from a nun, Sister Mary Joaquin, who was living as a hermit attached to Christ in the Desert Monastery in Abiqui, New Mexico. She wrote that she was particularly moved by my book, and we corresponded for many months. She then invited me to visit. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. How often does one get an invitation to visit a hermit? Easter 2000 I spent at the monastery. It is in a spectacular location, 13 miles down a dirt track nestled by an ancient river with the walls of the canyon rising majestically and protectively on either side. Sister Joaquin and I formed an instant bond and spent hours in her tiny room having some marvelous conversations.
Sometime later, the tribunal in charge of Mother Teresa's canonization asked me to submit copies of my correspondence with her. I wrote and mentioned this to Sister Joaquin whereupon she wrote back that she was praying for me to be called as a witness for Mother. When I received her letter, I thought perhaps she had been out there in the desert a little to long and the sun had gotten to her ... Poor dear. I mean afterall, yes, I knew Mother and I knew Mother loved me, but being called as a witness for her canonization? Well, that was in a totally different league.
Several months later I opened my mailbox to find a letter from the Tribunal written in very churchy language asking me to present myself to give testimony on behalf of the servant of God Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I couldn't believe it. I was indeed being called as a witness! What an amazing honor that I would be in a position to do something beautiful for Mother.
On October 19, 2003, along with thousands of others, I will attend the ceremony at the Vatican.
It seems that Life is full of interesting vignettes: when I stopped drinking I was promised that if I stayed sober and followed a spiritual path, life would be beyond my wildest dreams. For years in sobriety I had thought, "Well, my life isn't so wild; I could think of something far wilder than this." I admit that in many ways, I'm deeply shallow, and wild dreams for me conjured up a picture of money, men and mansions. However, it appears all is not lost for me in the spiritual realm, for when asked to give witness for Mother Teresa's canonization, I knew it was a call beyond my wildest dreams, and it made me so very, very happy - not a birthday party sort of happy, but a stomach-warming, heart-bounding, spirit-lifted sort of happy - a happiness derived form being a tiny cog in a great wheel - I am a witness to a saint. It doesn't get much better!
Incrementally it has been revealed that "beyond my wildest dreams" means beyond your tacky wild dreams Lorna ---beyond---beyond---completely beyond---into another dimension. Fulfillment of dreams on the spiritual path, wild, or otherwise, is never just about fulfillment for the individual alone, but is always a blessing which radiates and blesses all. |
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8/11/2003 |
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Lorna Kelly
"Write that book for the Glory of God
and the Good of people"
- Mother Teresa
With Mother Teresa, March '97
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