This reflection was written by Jeroham Meléndez, who works in communications at Dio, for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community. You will find reflections from previous weeks here.

Working in a 19th century building has it’s charm, beautiful catered architectural touches in the windows, moldings, doors, tiles, it’s warm cozy nostalgic place. But it comes with some challenges and headaches for maintenance. In the winter the office where I work gets utterly warm as a result of central heating, so I joggle with opening and shutting the windows as the snow storms come and go trying to keep the right temperature so that a small plant on my desk, my little oasis of hope and colour amid the monochrome ambience of the city, stays healthy.

One day I forgot to close the window before leaving for the weekend, when I came in on Monday morning I found my phone charger on the floor along with a few other signs of bird intrusion. I cleaned up and sat to work, moments later I noticed something odd in a bookshelf, and found that a dove had made a nest and left an egg, the nest was made out of a mixture of natural and plastic fibers, then I understood why the cord of my phone charger was intended to be part of those nest fibers but the weight didn’t permit it and it was dropped on the floor. As a hopeful Christian I couldn’t help but to make it a symbolic interpretation of where specifically the bird found refuge and confidence to build the nest, as seen in the photo it was in the word of God.

Like that dove, many of us have found in Dio a warm and secure place where we are reassured that God is with us. Here we witness his presence in acts of kindness, in learning, and even in the ways this community supports us through the real challenges of life. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada next week, I give thanks for Dio for being a shelter in more ways than one.

And yet, I am reminded that this gift is not only for us to hold. By God’s grace, we all find shelter in unexpected places, sometimes in sacred spaces, sometimes in people who walk with us. This season invites us to carry that grace forward: to become for others the welcome, support, and hope that we ourselves have received.

May this season of thanks remind us to be a shelter for one another.

With prayers of thanksgiving,

Jero