This morning I failed to achieve my ‘heroic moment’ by two minutes. But our younger parish priest is away for a couple of days and his temporary replacement is pretty old. I wondered whether he would get up in time for the 6:30 a.m. Mass and if I should maybe shoot for the 8 a.m. instead?
Hey, Get Up - It’s Lent!
I decided this was lazy thinking, and got out of bed. It’s Lent – it’s supposed to hurt a bit!
Father O. did indeed begin Mass a little late. He skipped the opening Angelus and humbly admitted that Father D. had called him from the Carolinas to wake him up.
Being an old man, Father O. is slower and more deliberate than our sprightlier parish priest and at first I found this annoying.
Then I remembered that I’m meant to be undergoing spiritual renewal. This involves, among other things, being patient and tolerant – stuff I should be anyway, but need constant reminding about.
Opening the Ears
Father O.’s slower diction is making me pay better attention to the words of the Mass. It’s not a bad thing to be jolted out of one’s routine sometimes.
And Father O. is such a lovely person: he has a wonderful sense of humor as well as humility. His face may show his age, but you can still see an impishness there. I imagine he was a handful as a youngster!
Prophetic Homily
Anyway, Mass began late and the school kids (yes, amazingly, there are school kids at the 6:30 a.m. Mass!) have to get out by 7 a.m. This means they can grab a bite of the breakfast laid out for them in the lobby before they scuttle off to class.
Father O. likes to give long homilies. But I detected the hand of our parish priest in the very short sermon we received this morning. I’m sure Father D. reminded him to keep it short and sweet.
But the message came through more loudly and clearly because of its brevity.
We are all prophets.
We’re called to be prophets in the workplace, among our family and friends -wherever we may be. This doesn’t mean speechifying and preaching wherever we go. We just need to set a Christian example for others.
Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But we all know how tough it is.
Wish me luck today trying to put it into practice!
Hey, Get Up - It’s Lent!
I decided this was lazy thinking, and got out of bed. It’s Lent – it’s supposed to hurt a bit!
Father O. did indeed begin Mass a little late. He skipped the opening Angelus and humbly admitted that Father D. had called him from the Carolinas to wake him up.
Being an old man, Father O. is slower and more deliberate than our sprightlier parish priest and at first I found this annoying.
Then I remembered that I’m meant to be undergoing spiritual renewal. This involves, among other things, being patient and tolerant – stuff I should be anyway, but need constant reminding about.
Opening the Ears
Father O.’s slower diction is making me pay better attention to the words of the Mass. It’s not a bad thing to be jolted out of one’s routine sometimes.
And Father O. is such a lovely person: he has a wonderful sense of humor as well as humility. His face may show his age, but you can still see an impishness there. I imagine he was a handful as a youngster!
Prophetic Homily
Anyway, Mass began late and the school kids (yes, amazingly, there are school kids at the 6:30 a.m. Mass!) have to get out by 7 a.m. This means they can grab a bite of the breakfast laid out for them in the lobby before they scuttle off to class.
Father O. likes to give long homilies. But I detected the hand of our parish priest in the very short sermon we received this morning. I’m sure Father D. reminded him to keep it short and sweet.
But the message came through more loudly and clearly because of its brevity.
We are all prophets.
We’re called to be prophets in the workplace, among our family and friends -wherever we may be. This doesn’t mean speechifying and preaching wherever we go. We just need to set a Christian example for others.
Sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But we all know how tough it is.
Wish me luck today trying to put it into practice!
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