Calling for your help!: The Littlest Twinkle.

The Littlest Twinkle

I have to be honest with you. There was one person whom I was absolutely terrified of. Perhaps it was my upbringing in the Roman Catholic Church and the frustrations and instilled fear from the Archbishop of Edmonton, or perhaps it was the simple fact that I truly respected her so much, I feared doing wrong.

I now work for the Holy-Mitered One as well as greatly respect the person she is and the inspiration she always seems to provide.

I have provided an entry of a recent phone conversation (or a small portion of it) following this blog and could share so many more.
Bishop Victoria is truly my hero.

Such a wonderful woman, her weakness is that she gets this little twinkle in her eyes before she says anything really important. I felt of all the pictures I have with her, (including the wonderful one from my reception into the Church) this one shows particularly well the “I have something really important to tell you” twinkle. As Bob McKeon was lining up to take the picture, only having met her once, she leaned over and said, “We are taking this one for Archbishop Thomas Collins” and before the next said, “and this one for the Pope.”

And people say that she doesn’t have a sense of humour, HA! I personally find her hilarious – perhaps because we both take the road of the “dry” form of humour… who knows.

What I do know is that over the course of the past month, while there have been moments of, “I hate it when you are right and so I am frustrated with you right now because that is all I can do” there have also been those great lengths of silence as I sit there and chew on what she has just said in awe of the fact that she has read my mind, my fears, my heart and has done so, so very accurately.

She knows when to cry with you or when to tell you an outrageous joke – she knows just how to hug that (even though you doubt) you know that everything is going to be okay.
She knows what to say to keep you going, way long after you can’t and she knows when silence is making a stronger point than words. She has a way of putting perspective on the situation at hand that I could never do on my own and there is something about her tone of voice that makes you trust deep down inside that she just might know what she is talking about.

Rumor has it, on her way to the airport, she actually made a stop at the Cross for no other reason than to share an Episcopal hug with a terrified young patient who wanted to be anywhere else in the world.

She has given her promise to have fun and enjoy the Christmas vacation, asking last night about a possible field trip to Elk Island Park.

She knows.
She is more than “The Bishop”
She is a knight in God’s armor, crusading against all that hurts, is evil, or is just downright crappy.
She provides sources of continual warmth to survive the long, cold, somewhat sleepless nights.
She takes you under her wing and on the occasions where it is too crappy, too scary, too exhausting, or too difficult to proceed on your own, she carries you – if not in prayer, in person.
She reassures you of the wonderful rejoicing that can come of the healing power of Christ, even when your eyes fill with tears when you read it and your heart with fear.
She gets the littlest twinkle in her eyes and you are warmed to the core and “know” deep down inside that everything will be okay… you witness the love of God and the compassion and healing power of Christ in that twinkle… and best of all, when the world seems like it is against all odds of making things easy, it is that twinkle and inner strength that you can fall back upon and truly trust.

I know that she doesn’t have a computer at home and that she knows nothing of this blog to read or check what is happening on computers in the airport, (as she can do with the Diocesan webpage – funny story for another time) but if you see her or talk to her or send her emails, if you could help me out – that would be awesome. If you could please pass on the very important message, I would really appreciate it.
“Someone has a message for you Bishop, rather simple but rather important: Thank you!”

Thank you for your help!! Hopefully she’ll understand if she hears it enough.