ALMOST HEAVEN…

News from the St. Vincent de Paul Society Conference of Southern West Virginia

The In-between Time…and the Redbud…

It’s a strange day today…strange for a couple of reasons. It’s Holy Saturday and as I sit here writing this newsletter for all of you—our faithful supporters—I am thinking of our Holy Week liturgies and how Holy Saturday is kind of an odd day…a day in between yesterday’s solemn Good Friday service and this evening’s joyous celebration of the Easter Vigil. The promise is there, but the reality hasn’t yet arrived. Faith-wise, we are kind of a people kind of caught in between.

It’s also a strange day because I can look out of my window and see the heaviest snowfall of the winter…but wasn’t it just glorious Spring just a few days ago? Didn’t the Redbud blossom out and let us know that winter had lost its cold grip and the warm winds of spring were here? Here in the mountains of Appalachia, the redbud has been the traditional harbinger of spring. The mountainsides and valleys are lavishly layered with this small limbed tree and its abundant purple blossoms which for past centuries has announced to the mountain folk that the promise of spring had arrived. It may have been a tough winter filled with some hungry bellies and chilled bones, but like faithful messengers, the radiant redbud reaffirmed that good days lay ahead.

But like Holy Saturday itself, the redbud and us are sort of caught in between. The pungent purple flowers are smothered with a layer of heavy snow…it’s not spring after all…but it’s not winter either. The promise of spring is there, but the reality hasn’t yet arrived. Weather-wise, we are a people kind of caught in between.

And isn’t this true of so many of the people you have enabled us to help down here in the heart of Appalachia. So many are caught in between…between jobs, between relationships, between checks, between home repairs, between meals, between security, between hearing a kind and caring word. The St. Vincent de Paul Society has appeared like the local redbud…with promise of help…of better times. But the better times aren’t here yet and, once in a while, our promise, like the redbud, gets frozen for one reason or another.

But one thing we know for sure…you, the Vincentian Family, will continue to support us and, little by little, we might be able to melt some of that cold snow of poverty, loneliness, hunger…until the day comes…a brilliant Easter in the mountains…when everyone here can bask in the sunshine of employment, satisfied hunger and secure living.

As I think of it, as Christians, we are truly in-between people…seeing the sad, cold reality of yesterday and working for the resurrection of hope and joy tomorrow…the building of the Kingdom. And your continued support allows us to do that down here.

The food pantry continues to supply food for nearly 1,000 people each month…along with clothing, toys, house wares and diapers. Debbie answers numerous calls for help. The warehouse quickly empties of furniture, household items, and building supplies. People experience dignity and respect and prayers.

Does it all work perfectly…of course not. We have our cold days where we really have to question what and how well we are doing with your support. But we know that a better day is coming and with so many of you in the Vincentian Family behind us, all will one day be well…it’ll be a glorious Easter morning.

Thanks again to all of you for helping us continue our ministry. May the next 50 days of the Easter Season carry you ever further forward into peace and closeness with God…

Arnie Simonse, President
P.O. Box 1350
Pineville, WV 24874
304-732-8959
arnoldsimonse@aol.com

Holy Saturday
April 7, 2007