Cecily

continued

county home, where from beginning to end for this gallant lady there'd been no pied a terre.

I'd think about my journey, too, and the role Mea played in it. I had found Jesus the Way, by this time. In Mea he'd manifested his glad-heartedness and his compassion. But through friends too he reveals those qualities in ourselves that separate us from him. What about my readiness to feel superior to other people?

I had lots of time to ask this question during those silent vigils in the ward, and I received an answer that, for now anyhow, satisfies me.

I was present in Mea's singling out of you, I believe I heard Jesus say. When she told you that you were special, exceptional, unique in all the world, it was I who was speaking.

What I hadn't heard from Mea, he went on, what was missing in the image of him as reflected in her, was that each person on earth was special, exceptional, unique in all the world. I wish every young girl had a Mea to tell her how much she matters. To know myself infinitely valued, he told me, is to see into his heart. To judge someone else to be of less value is to miss that heart altogether.