April 10, 2019

BEFORE  AND  AFTER

There’s a before,  before us - 

if we take the time to think about it. 

We have parents. They had parents. They had parents. 

And back and back and back and back and back. 

There’s a before,  before us - 

if we take the time to think about it afterwards. 

We’re the after, but we’re also the before of a 

lot more that is to come.

A rose is from a rose is from a rose is from a rose is from a rose and 

back and back to the beginning of roses and oak trees and bonsai trees. 

So too butterflies, spiders, monkeys, hippos, Rottweilers, singers, teachers,  carpenters, lawyers, nurses, speakers of the house and cleaners of the bathroom.

There’s a before,  before us 

if we take the time to think about it. 

So if - who we are, what we say, and what we do lasts, - back and back - till way, way back -  why not do the best we can do - in the here and now - right now.

We pray, we play,  we work,  we think, we talk, with words and structures 

that go back, and back, and back, and back - till before we remember back.

So I guess the message is:  we’re all connected and a lot is going 

to follow us, so best case scenario: let’s leave a great legacy. Amen.

Parvis Prayer

St. Mary's High School

April 10, 2019

36 Scholars were inducted

into the Rose Parvis 

Scholarship Program  

at St. Mary's High School,

Annapolis, Maryland 

- Prayer Reflection 

written for this occasion.

Father Andy Costello