Mary Novaria

Girls in the rain in Torbeck, Haiti Haiti is one of those places that steals your heart and then breaks it over and over again. The country is still trying to claw its way back from the devastating earthquake that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in 2010. Now, nearly seven years later, with tens of thousands of Haitians still living in tents, along comes Hurricane Matthew, the latest in a long string of disasters—both natural and man-made—to befall our hemisphere’s poorest nation. The latest death toll hovers around 900. The collapse of a major bridge has choked off traffic and prevented much-needed supplies from reaching the hinterlands, and there is fear of another cholera epidemic. I’ve been to the south of Haiti twice and have a number of friends who have been many times more than that (under the auspices of the Haitian Episcopal Learning Programs), building schools and hospitals, conducting medical clinics and forging lasting friendships and partnerships w...

The following piece of mine appeared in the Huffington Post Religion section on December 6, 2012 8:07 PM  –  12/ 6/2012 Preparing My Heart for the Birth of Christ -- An Advent Reflection I saw firsthand today the goodness in people, which tends to happen if I stop thinking about myself and pay attention. What I saw today was exactly what Jesus would have done and it helped me re-form my Advent intention. I was walking in the park with my dog, Bella, as we do most days. We passed an old man, sleeping in the grass, which isn’t unusual in our city, where there is a sizable population of homeless people. The man was roused by the beep-beep of a horn as an SUV pulled up along the curb by the park. The two people in the car beckoned the old man to come over. As he approached, the passenger reached out and handed him one of those white, Styrofoam carryout containers, a sizable one, perhaps the only meal the old man would have this day.  And then they drove off...