The seven pans of meatloaf I was juggling between ovens also looked as if they might not be cooked in time, and the pudding I had made for dessert was runny.

Douglas Guss, the staff worker assigned to move the heavy pots and mash the potatoes, stood quietly next to me.

So engrossed was I in my world of pots and pans that I was startled when he spoke.

"It’s a question of being," he said.

"Being?" I echoed, struggling to reconnect with the larger world.

"Being before doing," he continued.

I muttered something about how hard it is sometimes to find that balance. After all, the food did have to get cooked.

"That’s where wisdom comes. You seek her and she comes running." He was referring to the first reading from Mass that morning (Wis 6:12-16). "Otherwise you think you are the one doing it."

Doug was right. Preparing Sunday supper for our MH family wasn’t primarily about getting carrots or meatloaf cooked to perfection. It was about my awareness that God was with me, and the offering of love I was making to him in preparing this meal for my brothers and sisters. How easy to lose sight of that in a time of stress! How easy to think it all depended on me!

Meanwhile Douglas had gone to the window and was looking out in the direction of the island chapel where the rest of the community was praying Vespers.

"I wonder which Magnificat they are singing," he mused. He started singing the Byzantine Magnificat, and I joined in. Before I knew it, joy flooded my heart, and I relaxed.

I only vaguely remember that the meal turned out fine, but I will never forget Doug’s gentle lesson.