Upon my arrival in the Miami International Airport, I soon set foot on the convenient moving sidewalk. Gently moving along, I spotted what appeared to be letters, at least five feet high, on the wall beside me. They were carefully decorated with brightly coloured flowers. The first capitalized word was LOVE. It intrigued me. As I continued to move along the walkway I tried to read this message backwards. There were three exclamation marks in a similar decorative pattern. As I continued, I was trying to guess what the next words might read. “ALL WE NEED IS LOVE ! ! ! “ LOVE
I was returning from Guatemala where our group, Guatemala Hope, had received much love from the villagers in these small towns along a portion of the Pacific Coast. Our deepest hope was that in our interactions with the people of those villages that they had felt our genuine love and support. Their love was expressed in preparing our meal after our long journey from the capital city, in welcoming hugs, in words of appreciation and thanks. Yes, I was returning from Guatemala, however, my thoughts were on the media stories that I had been hearing prior to leaving Canadian soil. These stories were filled with the violence of war, bombings, assaults, fraudulent activities, and the increasing worldwide fear of Ebola. Those thoughts about the world resurfaced as I was heading home to Windsor, Ontario. The unique message, “all you need is love”, gave me hope and reminded me of the awesome prayer of Pope Francis that we might “create a world of brothers and sisters”.
Mabel St. Louis CSJ