[Magdalen] A difficult time for so many - prayers please

[Marion Thompson]

As we continue to lift Brud in prayer, there are others in our separate 
lives who are standing in the need of prayer.:  the family of our almost 
100 y,o. parishioner whom we buried on Friday.  He retired in 1983 from 
38 years of teaching and being assistant head at our local private 
school.  He remained sharp and active until his recent bout of 
pneumonia.  He will be missed by all who ever mnet him, many of whom 
packed our church on Friday for a service of celebration designed by 
him:  For all the saints; The Lord is my Shepherd; Blest are the pure in 
heart (school hymn); And did those feet; and the school leaving hymn 
written by a former head and sung to 'We gather together to ask the 
Lord's blessing'; 'The flowers of the forrest', a lament played by a 
piper from the Toronto Scottish regiment with whom he served in WWII.  
As these things go, it was a grand do.

A stalwart member of our choir stricken by a stroke on Wednesday.  She 
is doing well, I'd say, but has some way to go. She is 84 and very game  
and married a retired priest of our parish in his 90's in the spring of 
2016.

A dear friend going back to the 70's who was best  at our wedding has 
shared his sad story with me.

My granddaughter (22) seems to have put a pretty seamy time in her life 
behind her but had to appear in court recently in connection with some 
incident back awhile (the fellow didn't show).  She now has a really 
decent fellow in her life and she is pregnant, due in July.  Eeesh.  I 
hope and pray all this sorts out.  How do you spell great-grandmother????

My other son's mother-in-law, a lovely woman who regularly gathers 
family around her,  is fading fast -- doesn't sound like she will see 
Christmas.

Our priest's partner is wracked with back and shoulder pain and unable 
to do much for himself.  He has assorted medical ailments, any of which 
might be part of this -- or not.

The tip of some iceberg above.  I, too, need some help.  I have had a 
stubborn cough for many weeks now, and, worse, no singing voice -- at 
this time of year.  Ah, geez.  And I am feeling ovewhelmed by memories 
and too-busy-ness.

Marion, a pilgrim