Emmaus Companions Newsletter - October 20, 2022
Hello Everyone,
It's a difficult Fall in the Gurash house for a variety of reasons I won't get into. At the same time, the challenges we're facing have helped to highlight the need for supporting each other and taking care of bodies, minds, and spirits. Challenges often do that.
It's an appropriate space to be in during this October Month of Mental Health Awareness. The readings for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time had a particular impact on me while I prepared my homily earlier this month. They provided an important reminder of my own tendency to keep my burdens a secret and the need we all have for outside support.
As I begin a new series of Emmaus Companions, I pray that you also may be more aware of the companions and supports God has already been providing and encouraged to seek out supports where they may be lacking.
Peace and God Bless,
Deacon Eric
"While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him...they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them." - Luke 24:15-16;28-29
Our Emmaus Support Group have returned!
If you care for a loved one with mental health challenges and feel you could benefit from the support and prayers of peers with a similar lived experience, use the link below to find out how to register for our next meeting.
From The Emmaus Family Support Blog:
Mental Health Month Reminds “You Cannot Do it Alone.”
When Moses finds himself faced with a daunting task, as he does in our first reading, he often feels as though he needs to face it on his own. When sent by God to free Israel from Egypt, he simply tells God he can’t do it; it’s God who steps in and provides help in the form of his brother, Aaron. In Exodus 17, Moses begins with the assumption that he alone will stand at the top of the hill with God’s staff to pray for success in battle; it is those around him, Aaron and Hur, who insists on helping him when the burden becomes too great...
10 Signs you're experiencing compassion fatigue
with Laura Howe of Hope Made Strong
You are not dead. You are waiting.
by Simcha Fisher
by Simcha Fisher
If you have ever lived inside a black hole; if you have moved about the world enclosed in a dome of soundproof glass, with no voices but your own voice, which you hate above all other sounds in the world; if you have felt so bad for so long that you don’t even want life to get better, you just want it to be over—then you will understand that it was very, very good to hear this voice that simply said, “You are not dead. You are only sleeping. And I am on my way.”
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