Father Jorge,
I have not recognized a Father/Priest since your presence in my life, nor an entire mass. I used to say it's because I married a Jewish guy from Barry University...The truth is, once we moved to Atlanta, for my future~husband to do a residency, I no longer heard what I needed to hear...or so I felt...I didn't have to hear you to see you or see you to hear you, or either to feel what it was you were allowing to come through you to me and others, through your gifts of openness, unwavering listening, and consistently connecting with all that came to you, as you felt, but were not sure,"When spirits are meant to meet, than I am not one to deny what God has shared with me."
I'm many years away from St. Thomas...I have taught, and I am going back again this year. I looked you up, and I found that you were no longer in what "we" call the human form.
Beyond this form and through many years, as I graduated, when you were p/t at the school and at Our Lady...in 1993...Forgive me for not keeping in touch with you and bidding farewell...
"Everything happens as God has planned." : ) You asked me one day, after a poem(prayer) was published in the Driftwood, what else has I written, did I paint, did I dream and when/if I did these things, WHEN?
I laughed and said yes, to all, that's why I wanted to be an elementary school teacher so that could do all of that through the arts to connect us all. You asked me why I laughed, and I told you noone's ever asked me when I wrote, painted, sang, played piano.
Your reply will stay with me always, as I'm going through a time of "questioning" myself and what it is that I may give and be happy. You told me that when I stopped hiding my gifts, that I could stop fighting what God's intentions were for me, and that it was only my fears that kept me from hiding "who I was".
You were/are right...I'm tired of battling at 41 years old...I am a teacher...who connects with my students as you did myself and countless others. You not only did it through your sermons(writing) and speaking(teaching) but connecting others through the arts...
I never got it...Until I looked for you and saw what others had written...
I am very fortunate to have heard you, and to connect to you...I'm grateful for the gifts I have and I'm not afraid...I have you within, as the Spirit of God is within...There enlies only Trust and Faith, to follow...
Thanks for that chat, sitting in front of the Law Library, as it was then, on a cement bench, with your Birkenstocks and your shorts, sitting Criss-Cross, Applesauce~and I the same toward you...
As we talked about GIFTS and GOD...
May God be with your family~before them as to guide them, behind them as to push them, on either side to keep them moving forward, underneath, as to not allow to fall, and above them, to allow them to reach up and out for God's help and love.
All my devotion,
Autumn Notariano~Frenchman
St. Thomas University, Fall '1993
A Morning Prayer
God,
Guide me in the direction
Of happiness and righteousness.
It won't matter if I'm alone-
I have YOU.
All I need is to wake up
Proud of myself each morning-
Loving myself and loving YOU.
Knowing that I am pleasing You
Makes my life deservingly
Successful and content.
Guide my loyalty
So that the products of my work
Will be everlasting in love.