Insane, Crazy, Blessed, Holy Time

Well, the crazy days of Holy Week, the Paschal Triduum, and the Octave of Easter are over! They seemed to have flown by. This is just a little recap and reflection of this year's "insane, crazy, blessed, holy time".

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion: The celebrations of the Mass this weekend went really well. I think that a good tone was set throughout the celebration of the anxiety (spiritual and physical) that comes every year with the observance of this most sacred time of the Church's calendar. Our youth ministry program had a great meeting that night giving an overview of Holy Week and the Triduum, concluding the night with some Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

Monday - Wednesday of Holy Week: Nothing too exciting. Final preparations were made for the celebration of the Triduum - including me trying to make sure that I had the flow of the Vigil  down. It wouldn't be a normal week here at the parish if we didn't have a funeral, which, of course, we did on Wednesday.

Holy Thursday: A good beginning to the day was the Chrism Mass at Saint Paul Cathedral. The Mass always seems to set the inner tone to help me enter into the great Paschal Mystery that we'll be intensely entering and celebrating over the course of the Three Days. Returning back to the parish, we made final preparations for the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. And following a quick moment of rest and for a pre-Mass snack, we were off. The pastor was the principal celebrant for this Mass, which allowed me to sit back and enjoy everything - which I was more than happy to do. Following Mass, I grabbed a quick bite (post-Mass snack), and headed down to sit for my "shift" as pilgrims visited the church for some quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament. It is during this time, of course, where I received my banana.

Good Friday: A wonderful day of reflection. At noon, we had Stations of the Cross. I presided at the Service of the Passion, Veneration and Communion, though I did not preach. My parents came up for our Fish Fry, and stayed for Tenebrae, which was one of the better reflections of "entering the darkness" that I had been a part of. The rest of the evening / night was relatively quiet. Which was a good thing.

Holy Saturday: A crazy day, to say the least. RCIA rehearsal at 9:00 AM, which I needed to be present at, since I was scheduled to preside at the Vigil (for the first time!). We had two good guys entering into the Church, so I wasn't too worried about them at the rehearsal -- I was worried that I would be messing something up! But it went well. That was followed (although somewhat begun during the end of the RCIA rehearsal) by the decorating of the church for Easter. Our volunteers did a wonderful job, and the church looked beautiful! The decorating was immediately followed by the rehearsal for the Vigil with our altar servers, trying to walk through and work through how everything was going to flow later that evening. Blessing of the Easter Baskets, which the pastor graciously performed, happened at noon - and the church had a nice crowd for this tradition. The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the Vigil - at least by me. I grabbed a small, quick dinner before heading down to the church for the final preparations and to begin the Vigil itself. The Vigil went very well! When I announced for people to please come outside for the lighting of the fire and the blessing of the candle, almost the whole church came out! The pastor commented, "We've never had a group this big in size before." (That's a good thing, I think.) *** When I had finished confirming our two men, I headed back up to the chair to introduce the Universal Prayer (intercessions), when I noticed that the ushers were beginning to "pass the basket". I politely asked them to wait until we had finished praying, which some people chuckled at. *** At the end of the evening, everyone seemed happy and please with how the liturgy was celebrated, and had a true sense of Easter joy in them. My sister, who came up for the Mass, seemed to have enjoyed herself. There was a small reception for those who entered the Church following the Mass, and then the evening (well, night at this point) ended.

The Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord / "Easter Sunday": I had the chance to sleep in a little. The pastor took the two earlier Masses, and let me celebrate the two later Masses. At both Masses, after the Sign of the Cross, I exclaimed, "Christ is risen!", to which the people responded, "Alleluia!" "Wrong answer!", I replied. I taught them how in the Eastern Churches the correct response is, "Indeed He is risen!" The Masses went well - again, Easter joy was present. Following the Masses, I locked up the church, and sat down in my room. And fell asleep for a bit. After I woke up, I headed over to my aunt's for a bit to visit with family. That was a good time.

The Octave of Easter: Back to the grind and normality in a lot of ways. The parish had three funeral Masses and one blessing service. Monday saw our continuation of the showing of Father Robert Barron's "Catholicism" series, which I was scheduled to lead that evening. I had confessions with the sisters on Tuesday, and tried to get caught up on some other things that slipped through the Holy Week cracks. I was also preparing for the Baptism of my second Godson on Saturday, with my family coming in from all parts of the country. The baptism went well, and I celebrated our parish's first Saturday evening Mass with them in attendance. The reception was a good time, though the family of my Godson took a wrong turn, and it took them an hour to get to reception - but all was well in the end. Sunday was a good day overall, and had a great time with the Youth Ministry in the evening.

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Transferred to Monday, 8 April): Since 25 March fell in Holy Week this year, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord was transferred to the earliest date possible, which was Monday, 8 April. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to celebrate this great feast the way I would have liked, since I had a funeral (again!). Though I did mention and tie in the solemnity with the celebration of the funeral at the end of the Mass. When I returned home from the cemetery, I grabbed a quick lunch, met with my 1:00 appointment, breathed for a moment, and headed to the hospital, since I was on duty. After visiting and anointing the people Sister asked me to visit, I returned back to the parish, grabbed a quick dinner, and prepped for this week's viewing of "Catholicism". Afterwards, I tried to relax a little, but stay alert, just in case the hospital was to call. Around 11:30 PM, I figured that I was okay to go to bed, and I did. And a good sleep was had.



When I awoke this morning for the 7:00 AM Mass, I felt completely spent from the last few weeks. I decided not to preach this morning, simply allowing a minute or two for the assembly and myself to sit in the silence with the Word. I returned a few phone calls and e-mails that needed responded to, and was called out to anoint a woman who seemed to be on the cusp of leaving this world for the next. And now, I'm just finishing this entry, and will be taking the rest of the day pretty easy. My schedule is pretty regular with activities over the course of the next few weeks, so I'm trying to simply "be" when I can.

The last few weeks were a lot of going, going, going. But I enjoyed it.

It truly was an insane, crazy, blessed, holy time.



 Blessed and Joyous Easter Season!



Enjoy the journey . . . 

For You, a Banana

The Paschal Triduum is my favorite time of the year. 

One of the "things" that I love to do during that time is to sit in the church and greet people as they come visiting for their own or their group's prayer time in front of the Altar of Repose on Holy Thursday following the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper.

I was sitting the "second shift", from 10:00 PM until Midnight. The night was relatively light with visitors, so the church was peacefully quiet. The 11:00 hour was slow - very few people passed through the church. (I'm not complaining - it was just what I needed!)

Towards the end of the evening, a lady came in. I greeted her, and she proceeded to the front of the church, towards the Altar of Repose. She prayed for a little while, and as she was leaving, she wished me a happy feast day (since we celebrate the Institution of the Priesthood on that day), I thanked her, wished her a good night, and she left. 

About a minute later, I heard the doors of the church open (thinking another pilgrim or two was / were about to stop in for some prayer time), when the lady who just left came back into the church. She said that she wanted to give me something in appreciation for my priesthood. (I was a little surprised, and very humbled.) She mentioned to me that she didn't have much with her, but she had stopped at the grocery store amidst her visiting some of the area churches. 

Then she handed me a banana.

She felt embarrassed for not having anything else. And since I really didn't expect anything from anyone on that day, I was speechless. She knew that the Good Friday fast would be beginning shortly, but she thought that I would have been hungry. (I did grab a small bite between Mass and my "shift", so, in all honesty, I wasn't starving. But, again, I was speechless, so I really didn't know what to say to her at that point.) I thanked her for her gift, and she thanked me again, and left.



What are the proper words to thank someone for a gift you weren't expecting?



What are the proper words to thank someone for a banana?



In all honesty, it was a humbling moment to remind me of how much the faithful truly do appreciate the priesthood. 




That banana is probably one of the best gifts I've ever received.






Enjoy the journey . . .

Disturb Us, Lord

I found the following prayer going through some old files and Facebook postings. Given the light of entering into the celebration of the Paschal Triduum, I thought that it was appropriate to share.

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Prayer of Sir Francis Drake, 16th Century

(This prayer was found in his ship's diary, written on the eve of one of his great adventures:)

Disturb us, Lord, ...when we are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we dreamed too little, Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wilder seas Where storms will show Your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes; And to push us in the future In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
who is Jesus Christ.

Amen


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Enjoy the journey . . .

Paradox

Homily for Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Sunday, 24 March 2013

        Acclamations and abandonment. Triumph and trial. Elation and execution. Blessings and betrayals. “Hosanna!” and “Hail, King of the Jews!” The palms and the Passion. Glory and gall. The crowds and the Cross.

        My friends, we gather on this Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion to celebrate the paradoxes of our faith. We memorialize once again the fact that we praise the Lord for all He has done for us, yet we also share in His Passion and Death. Yet this Sunday is different.

        This day, this celebration helps us enter in to the most holy time of the Church’s calendar. What we remember each time through Word and Sacrament is brought now to a profound memory, an active memory in the collective life of the Church.

        The Paschal Mystery of Christ, the Mystery of the Cross helps us to recall that setting in which the mercy of God is most profound. It is in that setting which we mystically join in through our participation in the Eucharist. It is through these mysteries – these mysteries of paradoxes – that we understand how acclamations and abandonments, triumphs and trials, elations and executions, blessings and betrayals are truly complementary to one another.

        The Cross Itself is a paradox. Yet it is also that which must remain central to our life of faith. We recall the words of Pope Francis:

“When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord.”

        Even in the midst of our own crosses, we acknowledge the mercy of our God. Through the passions and sufferings of our own lives, the Lord still calls us to follow Him, just as He called Saint Dismas, the Good Thief, from His Cross. This points back to the words of our Holy Father. When we decide to do anything apart from the Cross, we choose not to follow Jesus. When we decide that we know better than Christ or His Church, we throw away the cross of suffering and discipleship and pick up the cross that’s stylish and fashionable, a cross that’s socially acceptable and “pretty”.

        Brothers and sisters, the cross we carry is ugly and hideous because of our suffering and pain. Yet, just like the Cross of Christ, it is made beautiful through our suffering and pain. That is the paradox of life: Our suffering and pain is to transform us into the beautiful creation God has made us to be. The Cross shows us how this is so. The Cross is the prime example of how to follow Christ even in the midst of our suffering and pain, just like Saint Dismas.

        In a special way today, we commemorate the paradox of our salvation with the words of Saint Andrew, the first disciple, upon seeing the wood of his own cross upon which he was to die:

O good Cross,
made beautiful by the Body of the Lord:
long have I desired you,
ardently have I loved you,
unceasingly have I sought you out;
and now you are ready for my eager soul.
Receive me from among men
and restore me to my Master,
so that He -
who, by means of you,
in dying redeemed me -
may receive me.
Amen.

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Enjoy the journey . . .

Prayer for a Difficult Situation

Lord, grant me strength and guidance.

Let me know that these choices I've made are really for the good of Your people, and not just my selfish pride.

Allow me to see past the heartache of the situation, and come to know that You're really working in and through everything.

Let this cross not be of Gestas, but of Saint Dismas, recognizing Your mercy, even in the midst of his suffering.

Comfort me and console me with Your wisdom.

Shepherd me, so that I may shepherd others.

Let me be that shepherd after Your Sacred Heart.

Allow the suffering in this situation to be joined with Yours on Your Cross, so that all involved may be redeemed through Your Passion and Death.

Allow the glory of Your Resurrection breathe new life into the hearts, minds, and lives of all involved.

Let us know of Your presence.

Protect us from the deceits of the Evil One.

Draw us to Yourself.

Give us Your peace.

Amen.


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I wrote this last night in response to an awkward and frustrating situation I'm involved in here at the parish. Please keep me, and all those involved, in your prayers. Thank you.

Enjoy the journey . . . 

A Requesting Prayer

Dear Lord:

I'm scared and frightened for the next step of the journey.

Yet I'm also excited and amazed for what is to come.

I don't know where You are taking me,

But I trust in You.

Your kindness and mercy have always been with me,

And Your fidelity to me and my life is beyond compare.

Sometimes I think that I'm crazy for having followed You so far;

Sometimes I seem to lose my trust and faith in You.

Nevertheless, You are with me.

Eyes close, I choose You as my guide;

Eyes open, I'm blinded by Your glory and power.

With closed hands, I can't let go of myself.

Open my hands, so that I may hold on to You.

My soul cries out to You, like a child crying out in lost terror for its parent.

Comfort me, O God; give me Your consolation!

Help me in the midst of my confusion and doubt.

Rescue me from my insecurities.

Grace me with wisdom and knowledge to know what is truly Your will.

Help me see and share in Your vision.

Purify my heart to become like Yours.

Overshadow me to become like You.

Allow me to taste if Your goodness.

Shield me from my enemies - human or otherwise.

Send me where You need me.

Use me as You need me.

Allow me to become a mirror for You,

Simply reflecting Your living presence in this world.

Save me from myself.

Empty me of my pride, selfishness, and self-centeredness.

Humble me to know only of exaltation through You.

Renew within me the gift of peace only You can give.

Allow me to know that I can love only because You loved me first.

Settle my anxieties.

Restrain my wild imagination.

Let my friends be holy, so that I may learn holiness from them, and they from me.

Transform my life to reflect Your radiance.

Be with me.

Make me like You.

Amen.

Enjoy the journey . . .

Something New

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
Sunday, 17 March 2013

        “Thus says the Lord . . . see, I am doing something new!”

        My brothers and sisters, we’ve had a lot of “new” in the Catholic Church this past week: A new pope, from the “new world”, with a new name, and, as some are considering, a new approach to the papacy. From the look of things, Pope Francis is making the Church “new”, in a manner of speaking.

        Our new Holy Father is, in some ways, following the example of Christ from this week’s Gospel. In a society where individual sinners were outcast in one way, shape or form, Jesus goes in the total opposite direction. Where Jesus could have verbally joined in the condemnation of the woman, He instead says nothing, simply writing in the dirt. Jesus chooses mercy over condemnation. He chooses humility over pride. He was doing “something new”.

        So we are called to do the same thing: to constantly choose to do something new in our lives. We are called to choose mercy over condemnation. We are called to choose humility over pride. We are called to choose silent witness over yelling with the masses. We are called to choose the radical way of love of Jesus Christ. We are called to choose the Cross and the journey to Jerusalem.

        My friends, we choose this new life, this radical way of love, we choose the Cross so that, as Saint Paul reminds us, that “[we] may gain Christ.” As we choose this new way of life, away from condemnation, away from pride and yet towards the Cross, we come to recognize that our journey to Jerusalem is inevitable.

This is why we need to encounter Christ – to make this inevitable journey one that becomes, in some way, bearable through His compassion, mercy and grace. To carry the Cross otherwise becomes unbearable.

This is why we need to encounter Christ – so that the world may know not of the condemnation of the cynical and sarcastic, but the mercy of God through us and our actions.

This is why we need to encounter Christ – because the “something new” being created by God is our hearts, our lives. The “something new” is the renewal of our lives to be conformed to God.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta reminds us that we need to be the kind, good, blessed people of God that He has created us to be. She gives us this reflection:

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

This great spiritual powerhouse of the Twentieth Century so quietly reminds us that it is that relationship between us and God which is to be dominant and central in our lives. We do what we do not just because Jesus tells us to be nice to others, but, rather, because OF our relationship with Jesus.

WE are that “something new” God is creating through our relationship with Him. 

WE become that “something new” when we allow God to transform our hearts to become like those of His Sacred Heart. 

WE become “something new” when we allow the Holy Spirit to enter into our lives and breathe into us a new relationship with God and each other. 

WE become the “something new” when we finally recognize that as we continue to travel the road to Jerusalem, the journey is never about *us*, but, rather, our relationship with God and others, and how we are to introduce others to God, and God to others.

When we quit the life full of condemnation, pride, selfishness, and recognize our sinfulness, we accept a life that’s full of mercy, humility, generosity, and come to know how our God saves us. It is in the Eucharist, through the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass, that we come to know this “something new” in our lives.

The woman caught in adultery came to know of the mercy and compassion of God – but only by recognizing her sinfulness. It’s now up to us, as we journey to Jerusalem and the Cross, to seek out God’s mercy and compassion. It’s now up to us to choose to become that “something new” that God is creating.

The Lord has given us, I believe, a wonderful example in our new Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis, on how to travel with the Lord and to become that “something new” for the sake of Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless our new pope, and may we follow in his example of humility to seek the mercy of our God.

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Enjoy the journey . . .