Wednesday, September 17 Habakkuk, Prophet
Today’s Post:
The Prophet Habakkuk left almost no recorded life behind, except that his prophecies seem to have been proclaimed sometime near 600 BCE. But these few verses in chapter 2 blow me away every time I read them. Today’s post:
For the vision has its own time,
presses on to fulfillment;
does not deceive;
if it delays,
wait for it,
for come it will,
without fail.
Habakkuk 2:2-3
Habakkuk came to mind because this afternoon at 1:00, across from the Livernois Entrance we have a ground-breaking — 6 or 7 people with hard hats, shovels and short speeches. This marks the beginning of a Livernois renovation from The Lodge to 8 Mile. By November, the contractors tell us, they will complete phase one: new handsome sidewalks and such. There’s lots more to do, hence the expression “phase 1” in yesterday’s Campus Connection announcement (check it out: 2 paragraphs of info – http://www.udmercy.edu/campus_connection/).
I am surely not alone at UDM in longing for the renewal of Livernois; the old joke got tired for me years ago: “Mom and Dad drive their 17 year old down the Lodge to look at UDM’s campus. They come up onto Livernois, turn left, look around, take another left, and drive back home; and never get to campus.” Fr. Stockhausen worked a lot on this effort and Dr. Garibaldi keeps working on it now. The hard hats and shovels promise a real beginning. So if you see me walking around campus today grinning like an idiot in the autumn sun, it’s these shovels in the ground.
I’ve been waiting a long time for Livernois. A lot of you have too. Not all of Detroit’s re-birth is happening down town. Some of it is here. Read the prophecy out loud a couple times. Then imagine all your dreams — in your family, your work, the university, in the world — that require hope and patient endurance while they gradually show signs of real life.
Have a great day.
john st sj