by Mary | Jun 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
On Sunday, I was at the first Mass of a friend who was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Albany last weekend. In all my years of covering events for various Catholic publications — 25 years and counting — I have never attended any priest’s first Mass, and I have to say I was moved and inspired and humbled by this one. It was a beautiful Mass, especially because Father James seemed so at ease as presider, so comfortable in his new role as shepherd.
Before the end of the Mass, Father James talked a lot about the people in his life who had had the courage at one time or another to ask him if he had ever considered being a priest. In addition to a couple of other priests, which didn’t seem so out of the ordinary, he singled out a woman who once came up to him after he had served as an acolyte and his two Confirmation teachers. All three had asked him, “Have you ever considered becoming a priest?” I thought about this and about the fact that Father James said no one — not his family members or friends, not teachers or classmates — had ever spoken negatively about his desire to become a priest. Yes, he had felt a calling to the priesthood from an early age (fifth grade, he said in the Mass program), but what if all those people hadn’t noticed something in him? What if no one had encouraged him by posing that simple question? What if, even worse, someone had discouraged him?
It’s very possible we would have one fewer priest in our Church, and, from everything I know about Father James already, a very special priest at that. I know of one priest — my current pastor — who has asked my son, Noah, directly if he has ever thought about being a priest and has on other occasions casually mentioned, in a light-hearted, unintimidating way, that it might be something for him to consider. I value that. I don’t know what the future holds for Noah or if he will ever feel called to the priesthood, but I like the fact that someone is willing to remind him that he should keep the door open on a noble vocation that doesn’t get a lot of good press these days.
Father James stood before the congregation on Sunday and asked if anyone who had ever considered the priesthood would stand up. It was surprising — and hopeful — to see how many people were willing to get up before a crowd of strangers and bear witness to the fact that God does still whisper to us and that maybe we all need to listen a little more closely. No, we’re not all called to the priesthood or religious life, but we are called to follow God’s path, wherever it may lead us.
Listening to this enthusiastic young priest remind others that God may be calling them, talk about his own struggles along the way, share personal stories about his family and his decision to follow God’s call was the best and most honest advertisement for the priesthood that I have ever heard. Maybe others will consider the priesthood now because he asked them to stand up and be counted. Maybe young men afraid to follow that still, small voice speaking to their hearts will have the courage to do so because they heard first-hand that while the road to the priesthood isn’t always easy it can be happy and fulfilling. Maybe the rest of us will now consider walking up to someone we know who seems to have that certain something and asking, “Have you ever considered becoming a priest?”
Not everyone is called to the priesthood, but we are all called to encourage and support those who choose the road less traveled on behalf of the rest of us.
by Mary | Jun 15, 2009 | parenting
I’m in a bad way this week. Too much work, not enough time. The usual thing. I’m doing a lot of feeling sorry for myself as I sulk about my incredibly difficult life. (I’m rolling my eyes now.) Then this afternoon, because I hadn’t really checked up on my usual favorite bloggers, I headed over to Mom’s Night Out and was immediately humbled by what I read there. Kathy of Mom’s Night Out is a foster mom, and, as if that doesn’t sound difficult enough, she’s the kind of foster mom who takes especially troubled kids, kids who are in crisis or just released from the hospital, kids who fall through the cracks because they’re not the right age to receive government funding for behavioral support.
From today’s post:
“So, here comes Andrew. At four years old, he’s my youngest yet in the program. He’d been in seven placements already. The previous placements were all family members and he’d been abused and neglected in each of them.
“He came into our house one ANGRY little guy. Huge behaviors, spitting, kicking, throwing things, hitting, crying, CUSSING like a serious longshoreman. His tantrums – and I use that term loosely, because they were really rages – lasted up to three hours. For real.
“This went on for weeks. Every single day, at least once a day. Sometimes, two or three times. It was a bumpy ride for us all. We went past the ninety days, and I changed the classification of my home so that he would not have to move again.”
Four years old, seven placements, abuse, neglect. Wow. To willingly take on a child with all the issues that go with that kind of mistreatment is heroic. I complain when my kids bicker, when they forget to put their uniforms in the wash, when they whistle constantly while I’m trying to write. I am so in awe of someone who has the strength and generosity and compassion to parent a little boy like this to a place where he finally feels safe and relaxed.
Well, Kathy had to say good-bye to Andrew, who is returning to his mother. He hasn’t lived with his mother for three of the last four years. Imagine the heartbreak for Kathy. Here is some of what she said about it:
“What matters is that Andrew got under my “professional” foster mom skin. What matters is I love that little boy. What matters is that, when I tried to pack his little plastic forks and spoons that he got for having good table manners, he said, “No, leave them here for when I come back”. What matters is how hard he hugged my neck when he left, and how hard I cried after I closed the door.”
Head over to Mom’s Night Out by clicking HERE and read the full post. My kids are still bickering and the cats are literally climbing the curtains and life feels overloaded, but after reading this I realize that there are other people out there who really have every right to complain and yet they quietly go about doing God’s work here on earth — shouldering another’s burden, bringing a smile to the face of a little boy who has known far too much sorrow for someone of his tender age.
by Mary | Jun 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi — or, as it is more popularly known now, the Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. In the United States, this feast will be celebrated on Sunday, but the Universal Church celebrates it the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. That’s today. But enough about the logistics of this feast, let’s get down to the meaning of this feast.
Corpus Christi. Sounds simple enough, even in Latin, but the reality is that this is anything but simple. It is about faith. It is about a gift so incredible that it is sometimes hard for us to wrap our little human minds around the greatness of God’s goodness.
My grandfather was truly devoted to the Eucharist. He sat for hours before the tabernacle, attended several Masses every day, was visibly affected by Holy Communion. In the church where I was baptized, St. Margaret of Antioch in Pearl River, there is a beautiful mosaic over the tabernacle. It was given by my family in honor of my grandparents. When it came time to think of something that could be given to the church in their name, the pastor was the one who suggested it be something related to the Eucharist because he had recognized my grandfather’s deep, deep devotion.
I wish I could latch onto that devotion in a tangible way. Even when I sit before Jesus on those rare occasions when I make time to stop by the chapel, I am like a fidgety child — not sure what I should be doing, but knowing that whatever I am doing is certainly not worthy of what is before me. And what is before me? Nothing less than Jesus himself. That is what we believe as Catholics. That Jesus absolutely meant exactly what he said at the Last Supper:
“While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.'” (Mk 14:22-24)
Yes, Lord, we believe, but even in our belief, even on our best days, are we living up to our end of the bargain? If we could fully comprehend the gift of the Eucharist, how could we not drop to both knees or prostrate ourselves before the altar every time we approached to receive Communion? Why would we want to be anywhere else other than there with Jesus every spare minute we had? I guess that would be the ideal, and we humans are often less than ideal. Even with the best intentions, even with the deepest belief, we often cannot rise to the level of what the Eucharist deserves.
The good news is that our God wants us to receive Him in Communion, even with our human imperfections. If we truly believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and we are free from serious sin, we are welcome at the table — even when we recognize that the details of our devotion could use some work.
Last year, right around the time Olivia was receiving her First Communion, I saw something at church that stopped me cold and made me want to write more about this subject. Here’s a snippet from that Life Lines column:
“One week, as we were sitting in church, we saw a teenager walk away from the priest with the host in her hand, carrying it back toward her pew instead of consuming it on the spot. She dropped it on the floor and just kept walking. Another woman went over, picked it up and brought it to the pastor. For me, that moment, where the Eucharist seemed to be worth less than a penny dropped on a sidewalk, was a stark and sad reminder of just how far we have to go in truly understanding this teaching that is the absolute core of our faith. Maybe we all need to go back to square one and learn the lesson like a 7-year-old: This is not like Jesus; this is Jesus. We hear it, we know it, but do we get it?”
We need to talk more about the Eucharist. We need to ensure that Catholics, young and old, understand the truth of this teaching, even if they struggle to grasp its significance fully. If we allow the Eucharist to become just one of many teachings and do not focus on it as the core teaching that it is, we have failed.
When I wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Catholic Catechism, I spent a lot of time on the subject of Eucharist. Here is a small sample of what my translation of the Catechism says on this matter:
“Everything in the life of the Church flows from the Eucharist and is directed toward it. ‘The Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life.’ (1324)…The Catechism calls the Eucharist a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, and a paschal banquet, at which believers who consume Christ are filled with grace and receive a pledge of future glory. (1323)
“So to be sure you are clear on the depth of the Eucharist, Catholics believe the bread and wine offered at Mass truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ through transubstantiation. They do not believe it is a symbol of the body and blood but that through the prayer of consecration prayed by the priest-celebrant, the bread and wine become Jesus.” (p. 128)
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi. Celebrate the gift of Jesus himself that is yours each and every time you walk into church. Share the good news with someone you know. (And, if you’d like to read the rest of my Life Lines column on this subject, click HERE.)
by Mary | Jun 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi — or, as it is more popularly known today, the Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
by Mary | Jun 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
Sometimes I forget that not all of my Not Strictly Spiritual readers see my Facebook feed as well. I post updates there, but you don’t get them here. We’ve been super busy at the Poust house between Noah’s baseball, Olivia’s soccer, school plays, spring concerts, dance recitals, preschool picnics and more. Last weekend was jam packed with activities. Here are photos of the girls before their performances at The Egg last weekend.
Olivia danced with her hip hop class — front and center of the group — at two different shows.
Chiara danced with her creative movement class at the evening performance.
