Letter from Fr. Denis

Dear Parishioners,

I would like to explain to all of you how I came to understand the meaning of snowflakes and all that they bring into our lives.

Having my knee replaced was one thing, but then facing the surgeries related to my “compartment syndrome” crisis was another.  Something so inexplicable until one day I was looking out the window of my hospital room and I began to wonder about the role that snowflakes play in our lives: two different roles whether as grown-ups or in the purity of being a child.

It is much easier to look at a world decorated in white if one is a child.  Our hearts and mind’s eye come alive and we see a world that is oh so different.  We adults can see the pristine beauty of the Vancouver Mountains as NBC broadcasts the Winter Olympics, but as a child we see things innocently: angels, snowmen, castles and igloos, sleigh runs and maybe a snowball fight or two. 

When was the last time you stood upwind in a snow storm threw your arms out to your sides, opened your mouth and caught snowflakes on you?  Do you remember catching a snowflake on your finger and watching it change as the heat of your body turns it back into water?

One of the nurses came into my room one day, a day when many of you had come to visit and brought gifts.  She was standing at the table where many of the cards and gifts were assembled and she began to laugh.  I asked her, “What is so funny?” “Do you eat any regular food?”  The table was piled high in snacks, candies, cookies, nuts and the like.  I had to admit that I do not have the greatest diet in the world.

One morning, I awoke and opened the curtain in the room, it was snowing outside and the child in me came alive as I stared over the gift table to the falling snow outside. My imagination began to roll snowballs and make them bigger so that I could create a snowman and decorate it with my M&M’s for buttons, peppermints for eyes, and raisins for a mouth and pretzels for a nose.

Then I created another snowman, this one was a mailman whose sack, a pillowcase, was filled with cards and letters wishing me well.  Smaller this time, I built the children decorated in candies and goodies with their hands formed in prayers representing all of you who sent your love and your prayers…  I could have gone on and on as my gift table had an endlessupply of stuff.

Each of the snowmen is just like all of you.  You see one snowman, but how many snowflakes?  Like the gift table all of you have reached out to me caring for me, wishing me well, praying for me and calling allowing me to hear your voices.   Each visitor brought not only their well wishes, but the wishes of many others as well.

Recovery has not been easy, but the wonder of it all is it snowed and brought all of you with the gift of God’s healing and care.  My gratitude and blessings on all of you, snowflakes will have new meanings for me.

Love, Fr. Denis