The Legionaries of Christ are a religious order of priests with a seminary in Cheshire, CT. Once a month, on a Thursday, they host a 'Bethany evening' for clergy - a chance for prayer, reflection, dialogue, fraternity and, of course, a delicious meal. Monday and Thursday evenings are usually busy with parish meetings of one sort or another here at St. Thomas, so I have never been able to attend on of their Bethany Evenings.
However, whether it was because of school vacation week or some other quirk of the schedule, I had no evening appointments yesterday. And so I took advantage of this and drove the twenty minutes to their seminary. About a dozen priests gathered, some I knew quite well and others I had never met before.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction always provides the wonderful opportunity to quiet myself before our Lord, to give HIM the chance to do the talking and ME the chance to listen more than I might normally do. Our discussions centered around our Holy Father's latest book, and gave me the chance to hear viewpoints other than ones I might be familiar with.
And dinner was truly scrumptous, served by some of the seminarians.
THAT brought back memories of my time at St. Thomas Seminary when we would serve dinner to various groups attending functions there.
All in all, it was a nice evening, a good change of pace, with much less agita than I would have had sitting home watching the UConn men lose in overtime to Marquette!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
New England Weather
It's true what they say about New England weather - if you dont like what you see, wait a minute!
On Tuesday I headed to my retreat in New Hampshire since I had not been there this year. It was 8 degrees when I arrived at noon. The wind chill was well below zero. The snow pile in my driveway was at least eight feet high, and hard enough I could walk on it. The rest of my driveway had at least three feet all the way down.
I managed to wade my way to my shed. The lock was not frozen, and the snowblower did kick over fairly easily. But the wind was so cold that the snow that melted on my machine froze the chute in place. I tried to move it manually, but saw I was bending it. It took me three hours to clear a place for my car and a path down to the house. Overnight, the temps dropped to -11! Fortunately my house is small enough that the wood stove kept it in the 70's inside!
Today was a totally different story. It was in the 60's, and so after the 1:00 funeral, I headed out to my courtyard for a cigar while I took the Christmas ornaments and lights off the tree that is still doing well out there - some windburn on the side facing out, but not bad.
Two of my flower gardens have shed most of the snow, and I saw my first signs of spring - two clumps of daffodils at least 3" high, and 4 Easter lillies 1/2" out. And, a bee that buzzed over to the butterfly bush - not that he was gonna find much there this time of year! But, it was nice to see that spring may actually be here fairly soon!
On Tuesday I headed to my retreat in New Hampshire since I had not been there this year. It was 8 degrees when I arrived at noon. The wind chill was well below zero. The snow pile in my driveway was at least eight feet high, and hard enough I could walk on it. The rest of my driveway had at least three feet all the way down.
I managed to wade my way to my shed. The lock was not frozen, and the snowblower did kick over fairly easily. But the wind was so cold that the snow that melted on my machine froze the chute in place. I tried to move it manually, but saw I was bending it. It took me three hours to clear a place for my car and a path down to the house. Overnight, the temps dropped to -11! Fortunately my house is small enough that the wood stove kept it in the 70's inside!
Today was a totally different story. It was in the 60's, and so after the 1:00 funeral, I headed out to my courtyard for a cigar while I took the Christmas ornaments and lights off the tree that is still doing well out there - some windburn on the side facing out, but not bad.
Two of my flower gardens have shed most of the snow, and I saw my first signs of spring - two clumps of daffodils at least 3" high, and 4 Easter lillies 1/2" out. And, a bee that buzzed over to the butterfly bush - not that he was gonna find much there this time of year! But, it was nice to see that spring may actually be here fairly soon!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentine's Day
Happy Valentine's Day!
'For God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in His Son will have eternal life!'
Can't ask for a better Valentine than that, can we!?!?!
Today the church honors SS Cyril and Methodius as well, two brothers who travelled from their native Greece to Slovenia to spread the Catholic faith.
St. Cyril even went so far as to develop a whole new language - Cyrilic - to facilitate the spread of the Good News. Now THAT is dedication to the Gospel!
As we recognize the loved ones in our lives today, let us recognize the ultimate lover of us all - Jesus - and give God thanks for the many blessings He showers upon us all each and every day - including dark chocolate and roses, of course!
'For God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in His Son will have eternal life!'
Can't ask for a better Valentine than that, can we!?!?!
Today the church honors SS Cyril and Methodius as well, two brothers who travelled from their native Greece to Slovenia to spread the Catholic faith.
St. Cyril even went so far as to develop a whole new language - Cyrilic - to facilitate the spread of the Good News. Now THAT is dedication to the Gospel!
As we recognize the loved ones in our lives today, let us recognize the ultimate lover of us all - Jesus - and give God thanks for the many blessings He showers upon us all each and every day - including dark chocolate and roses, of course!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Spring is coming
Even though today was a day off - my 'weekends' are Tuesdays and Wednesdays - I did do some more work on my homily for this coming weekend. The Gospel passage we will hear speaks of the commandments. I've been mulling over what to say and how to say it, cognizant of the fact that the mere mention of the word 'law' sends shivers down most people's spine.
We are not a people who like to be told we 'have to' do this or that. It is an affront to our freedom. Especially in a democracy, we object to our rights being stepped on. Yet, Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, he came to fulfill it, and to show us that God's Laws - His Commandments - are meant to assist us in our relationship with God and with one another. They are not meant to stifle us or restrict us, but to enhance our interaction with our brothers and sisters. When we are in a right relationship with others, all is indeed right in our world, and there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday Schedule
It's been awhile since my last blog. But given the original purpose of my starting this blog - to let you see a bit of the life of a priest - I figured yesterday's schedule was a good peek into the diversity I enjoy on a regular basis.
My day started early (6:30) as I slid my way over to church. It was obvious that the black ice was going to be a problem. All the thawing we had on Saturday froze overnight. That prompted a call to our maintenance supervisor and a request for the sanding truck. Meantime, since people were starting to arrive for the 1st Mass, I grabbed the bucket of sand and sanded the sidewalks around the church.
This weekend I presented the Annual Report to the Parish. Unlike some priests I have known over the years, I feel it is pointless to go over the budget line by line. People are not going to remember any of those figures. Instead, I include a synopsis of the balance sheet from 2010 and the budget for 2011 in the bulletin and encourage people to peruse it and come back with any questions they might have. And I use the Annual Report as a means of giving a State-of-the-Church address, highlighting significant events of the past year and giving a preview for the current year.
Three Masses later, the temps had warmed enough to melt that ice, and the Liturgy Committee met to discuss the implementation of the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal. The idea was voiced of having a series of educational sessions during Lent in conjunction with Friday evening Stations of the Cross. And since we have collaborated with the other churches in Town in praying the Stations the past few years, we thought we might do the presentations at the neighboring parishes as well. I sent an email to the other pastors in town to see what their thoughts might be.
That ended the 'business' portion of my day. Next on the agenda was preparing to host a Super Bowl Party for some 30 friends. I had the Black-eyed Pea soup in the slow cooker since 9:00 - to coincide with the half-time entertainment, in case you didn't figure that one out. I made some Wicked Wings with my favorite Stubb's Wicked Wing Sauce - the pepper doesn't hit you initially, but lingers for quite some time. And I did a baked brie with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, brown sugar and maple syrup - delectable! Add that to all the food my friends brought, and I don't need to eat for a week!
Since my teams - Vikings, Redskins, and the local favorite Patriots were all home watching too, I lighted on the Packers for this game. They beat Chicago when I didn't think they would, and Pittsburg's been there recently. It was a real good game, made better by the Packer's win, and the fact that I won the 4th quarter of our pool.
Though my friends assisted in the post-game cleanup, I still did not get to bed before mignight. A long day - some work, some play. I'm not sure how far I got with my night prayers before my eyes closed for good.
I knew I had to sleep 'fast' since Monday was going to be another full day.
My day started early (6:30) as I slid my way over to church. It was obvious that the black ice was going to be a problem. All the thawing we had on Saturday froze overnight. That prompted a call to our maintenance supervisor and a request for the sanding truck. Meantime, since people were starting to arrive for the 1st Mass, I grabbed the bucket of sand and sanded the sidewalks around the church.
This weekend I presented the Annual Report to the Parish. Unlike some priests I have known over the years, I feel it is pointless to go over the budget line by line. People are not going to remember any of those figures. Instead, I include a synopsis of the balance sheet from 2010 and the budget for 2011 in the bulletin and encourage people to peruse it and come back with any questions they might have. And I use the Annual Report as a means of giving a State-of-the-Church address, highlighting significant events of the past year and giving a preview for the current year.
Three Masses later, the temps had warmed enough to melt that ice, and the Liturgy Committee met to discuss the implementation of the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal. The idea was voiced of having a series of educational sessions during Lent in conjunction with Friday evening Stations of the Cross. And since we have collaborated with the other churches in Town in praying the Stations the past few years, we thought we might do the presentations at the neighboring parishes as well. I sent an email to the other pastors in town to see what their thoughts might be.
That ended the 'business' portion of my day. Next on the agenda was preparing to host a Super Bowl Party for some 30 friends. I had the Black-eyed Pea soup in the slow cooker since 9:00 - to coincide with the half-time entertainment, in case you didn't figure that one out. I made some Wicked Wings with my favorite Stubb's Wicked Wing Sauce - the pepper doesn't hit you initially, but lingers for quite some time. And I did a baked brie with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, brown sugar and maple syrup - delectable! Add that to all the food my friends brought, and I don't need to eat for a week!
Since my teams - Vikings, Redskins, and the local favorite Patriots were all home watching too, I lighted on the Packers for this game. They beat Chicago when I didn't think they would, and Pittsburg's been there recently. It was a real good game, made better by the Packer's win, and the fact that I won the 4th quarter of our pool.
Though my friends assisted in the post-game cleanup, I still did not get to bed before mignight. A long day - some work, some play. I'm not sure how far I got with my night prayers before my eyes closed for good.
I knew I had to sleep 'fast' since Monday was going to be another full day.
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