Dear Brothers and Lasallians…

How the world has changed in this past week. Thank you, one and all, for being attentive to the directives of medical, church, and governmental agencies. The three of us remain confident that strict mandates observed universally will be essential in slowing the spread of this COVID-19.

We are hoping to engage in conversation with you each Monday (or more frequently, if need be) during these most uncertain times. Today we offer two points:

(A) Today, we would like to share some more ideas of what we all might do with the abundance of new-found free time. In addition to prayer, service and decluttering (suggestions from last Monday, see below), here are a few more possibilities for your consideration:

  1. We are all anxious but these are particularly tough times for those who are most vulnerable. Whether it is a phone call, a text message, snail mail or an email, what a great moment to reach out to others during these weeks. Maybe re-connect with folks you have lost touch with. It is a time when we may not be advised to hug one another, but we surely need one another.
  2. So much of our current daily reading is about the COVID-19, yet there are so many books that are awaiting our eyes. Might this be a time to re-energize our reading? Thanks to Amazon, you can order a book even in the middle of the night and have it on your Kindle instantly. Perhaps catching up on current Institute readings: Pilgrim’s Handbook? Circular 475? Pastoral letter? Lasallian Reflection 5?
  3. Bucket List. This pandemic may last for many months. Maybe we can work on some items on our life-long to-do list. For example:
    • Studying the family genealogy.
    • Learning a new language online via Duolingo or Babbel.
    • Create your own webpage.

(B) Today, we would like to encourage you to share your own BEST PRACTICES (BP) for how to deal with the current situation. Here are a few that we have heard from our communities (but please send us your own BPs so that we can share with the wider DENA family):

  1. Re-arranging gathering spaces in the community so that members are indeed six feet apart from one another.
  2. Purchasing some evening meals “to go” from local restaurants to support the hard working neighbors who are, no doubt, impacted a lot by the pandemic.
  3. Not allowing any visitors (even one of the Visitors!) to the community. The more we can all stay home and not bring in outside forces, the better.

Finally, of course, let us be relentless in continuous prayer for each other and for our one common humanity around our one world.

Blessings,

Richard Galvin    Lawrence Goyette    Dennis Lee