Joy: Wisdom from The Archangel

One fabulous member of our community is named Sr. Archangel. She is wonderful. One of a kind, she will speak her mind, has the greatest one-liners, always wears a pin of the Sacred Heart or Mary, gets up at 3am to have her ritual coffee and do laundry, and always makes sure the CMC's (or as she calls us, "the girls") are eating and safe. :) Here she is pictured third from the right in the dark jacket. :) (And thanks again to Mary for the picture!)

Today she and I had a talk around the kitchen table. After my 7:45am bike ride, I returned home to find Archangel in the kitchen. Our conversation went something like this, after I not-so-gracefully plopped down across from her:

Me: "ARCHANGEL!!! Good morning! I have a question for you."
Archangel: (pretending to be grumpy) "What do you want?"
Me: "Well, what is the meaning of life?"
Archangel: (looking up from her newspaper) "That's your question?"
Me: "No, there's another, but this one first."
Archangel: "The meaning of life is to be good, kind, and love one another. We are made in the image and likeness of God-- you know that! So we need to be good, kind, and love one another. Sometimes we don't do our best, but that's the human-ness. But that's just my opinion...Big deal."

Well stated, and there you have it-- straight from the mouth of an angel. Short, sweet, direct, and true. I'm really going to miss her next year.


After that, I asked the real question I had, which was if she could lead prayer on Monday. Crystal and I (who usually share Monday's community prayer) will be taking students to the Chapel of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton after school and aren't sure if we'll be back in time. When this happens to anyone who leads prayer that night, we just ask someone to switch with us. After popping the question to Sr. Archangel, she replied, "Of course! And while you're down there in Battery Park, you can go to the McDonald's by there. The girls will like that." :) Always looking out for us, that Archangel. :)