Judy and Perseverance in the Local Community

by: friar Angel Garcia, OFM Conv.

She represents situations that many of us would abandon because of frustration or impatience. However, Judy is something else.  She, as a Shamokin native, has been growing and living with people that have been broken and sometimes are in desperate need of help.  I see her as a faithful disciple in the middle of the storm that is trying to do something in the community, even to the point of running for office this past local election. She continues to be an inspirational figure in the community of Shamokin because, with her own example, Judy tries to love her town as much she can and tell the people around her that is possible to love and to fight the good battle.  For me, this continues to be something very inspirational in today's society, because God continues to shows us that it is possible to create something different, beautiful, and great in the Shamokin town, and in every place, if people like Judy help us to see something else, not the ugly or stranger to ourselves.

On the other hand, we had “the mountain man” that I personally had the opportunity to meet with him in the soup kitchen at Our Lady of Hope.   His name is Francis and he a single man, who lives a few miles away. He is a vegetarian by option. He likes to read and to talk with people. I had a good conversation with him and we enjoyed sharing stories with each other about books and life. For example, I told him about the story of the Wolf of Gubbio; Francis then told me a similar story about one night when he was walking on a field, when, out of nowhere, something appeared that he quickly realized was a wolf. Francis described it as something beautiful that appeared in his image of the Gubbio Wolf: very calm and without any signs of attacking him.  He was so fascinated with the stories of the Franciscans and also of St. Clare that he told me is going to go to the library and do some research on them.

Both of these examples show us how people still want to do great things in their communities. Sometimes, we just need to be more patient and flexible because the process of growing in communities is slow and, many times, also takes courage and determination to move forward. Their actions continue to tell us how to be a witness in a conflicted and unsatisfied world, where people are fighting with each other and where peace, dialogue, justice and reconciliation are far away. The hope continues because God never abandons his people. He loves us and want the best for us. So, no matter what, witnesses like Judy and Francis are going to continue to be there, so we can see clearly after the storms in our own communities.