THE TABLECLOTH

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. 
When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work.

They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.
They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. 
On December 19, a terrible tempest -- a driving rainstorm -- hit the area and lasted for two days.
On December 21, the pastor went over to the church. 
His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. 
The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. 
On the way, he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in. 
One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. 
It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.
By this time, it had started to snow.
An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. 
She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. 
The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked, and it covered up the entire problem area. 
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet.
"Pastor," she asked. "Where did you get that tablecloth?" 
The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EBG were crocheted into it there. 
They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.  
The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the tablecloth. 
The woman explained that before the war, she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came in, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week. 
She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she made the pastor keep it for the church.
The pastor insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do. 
She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. 
The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.  
One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. 
The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall, because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war. 
And how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?  
He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.  
The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. 
They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. 
He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door, and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.
- AUTHOR UNKNOWN -

Descubriendo el Siglo 21

Discovering 21century

Fr Tomás Del Valle-Reyes

P. O. BOX 1170

New York, NY 10018

(212) 244 4778

www.descubriendoelsiglo21.com/

TO REMEMBER ME

The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily occupied with the living and the dying.
At a certain moment, a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine.
And don't call this my deathbed.  
Let it be called the Bed of Life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain. 
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body, and find a way to make a crippled child walk.  
Explore every corner of my brain. 
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday, a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat, and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow man.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.

Descubriendo el Siglo 21

Discovering 21century

Fr Tomás Del Valle-Reyes

P. O. BOX 1170

New York, NY 10018

(212) 244 4778

www.descubriendoelsiglo21.com/

Think

Think of all the people
That never got the chance
To say their last good-bye 
Without a backward glance.
Think of all the people That said, "Have a good day" 
As they walked out of the door On their very last day.
Think of all the children
That said, "Mom don't be late.
I'll see you when you get home." 
And now they sit and wait.
Think of all the lovers Running late and short on time
To give that last kiss and hug, If they'd only had a sign.
Think of all the friends That had a silly fight
Never got to say "I'm sorry," 
Now will never see the light.
I mourn for all the people
That died without a clue.
I hurt for all the living That sadly never knew.
It'd be their last great hug.
It'd be their last sweet kiss. 
It'd be their last big smile,
From the ones they'll always miss.
Think of the ones around you,
The ones you loved so strong.
Take time to say, "I'm sorry" To anyone you've wronged.
Don't waste a precious moment
Assuming that they know.
For when these people pass It's too late to tell them so.
Yesterday is already gone
Tomorrow may never be.
Now is all we have To make our loved ones see.
Think.....
~ Author Unknown

Descubriendo el Siglo 21

Discovering 21century

Fr Tomás Del Valle-Reyes

P. O. BOX 1170

New York, NY 10018

(212) 244 4778

www.descubriendoelsiglo21.com/

Is God Alarmed??

God isn't alarmed
when we hit rock bottom. ?
He made the rock.

There are times in our lives
when we feel there is no way
up or out.? 
Poverty. Confusion.
Loneliness. Desperation.
They take us to the place
called "rock bottom."

In these times
you may feel weak
and vulnerable,
and it is easy to lose faith
in your ability to go on.
It is exactly in these times
that you must turn
to the infinite power
within yourself.
You must know that
the answer is exactly
where you are.
The strength you need,
the answer you want,
the solution that
will turn the situation around
is you.

If you can put aside
the anger,
fear, weakness,
and desperation
for just a minute
you will remember
the "other times"
you were at the bottom
and how in a moment,
miraculously, you were lifted up.

There is no spot
where God is not.

That's a good thing to remember
when you hit rock bottom!

Descubriendo el Siglo 21

Discovering 21century

Fr Tomás Del Valle-Reyes

P. O. BOX 1170

New York, NY 10018

(212) 244 4778

www.descubriendoelsiglo21.com/