President’s Message
As I write this message this month, it is on a very personal subject. Today, June 3, I talked to my sister who was informed by the doctor that her eldest daughter (53 years old) has two weeks at most to live. My niece Laura has very bravely battled cancer for the last 2 ½ years. She has endured two rounds of chemo, radiation and finally this painful end. My niece is not survived by a spouse or children but has a loving mother and two loving sisters who have stood with her during this devastating disease. My prayer tonight will be that she has a peaceful death with the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus by her side.
She is a devout and faithful Catholic, attending mass every Sunday with her mother, my sister. She is a capable and valued attorney with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She is sweet but matter of fact, a hard nose attorney when it is needed but a caring friend, sister and daughter. These past months, Gilda's Club has been a large part of her life. Laura is 12 years my junior, her mother 14 years my senior. We have one of those families that the generations sort of run together. If she lived in Nashville, she would most definitely been a member of our NCBWL.
My sister, Marcia, needs prayers, too. She is a widow and three years ago we buried our brother. Now she is facing the death of her daughter.
This might not be the proper topic for the President’s Message, but as I reflect on the course of events over the last few weeks, I can’t help but think how precious and fragile life is – all life and how important family is. Family encompasses not just those tied to us by blood, but those we choose to call family and those that God calls family. All humankind is our family. Somewhere I read that when one part of the body is hurting all the body hurts and that we are part of the Body of Christ and when one hurts we all hurt. There has been a lot of hurting in the news. People coping with the loss of jobs, freedom and lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people still suffering from the tornadoes and then these last days of people hurting due to injustice and disregard for life.
The song: WE ARE MANY PARTS, WE ARE ALL ONE BODY gives me food for thought.
We are many parts, we are all one body.
And the gifts we have we are given to share.
May the Spirit of love, make us one indeed.
One, the love that we share; one, our hope in despair,
one, the cross that we bear.
God of all, we look to you,
we would be your servants true,
let us be your love to all the world.
So my pain is pain for you,
in your joy is my joy too,
all is brought together in the Lord!
All you seekers great and small,
seek the greatest gift of all
if you love then you will know the Lord!
May God bless us and heal our broken parts.
Teri Gordon,
NCBWL President
