I am most satisfied that the rain poured down all afternoon today because I had no grass cutting responsibilities. Of course, I will have to make up for it later, but at least that is not today. My weekend can best be summed up by two words: prison & preaching! I did not have to work this weekend after working three consecutive Saturdays. But no way was I going to slow down. Friday night was a wonderfully quiet evening with just me and the Mrs. hanging out eating a great dinner from the garden. Yet most of the evening was spent putting some finishing touches on my homily for Sunday.
Now my major challenge this weekend would be two very early mornings. My schedule for Saturday would be prison ministry; specifically a one day Kairos retreat reunion. Check in time at the prison was 7:15 AM and drive time from my house is 45 minutes. Do the math; I was out the door by 6:30 AM; no rest for me on this Saturday. A Kairos reunion involves anywhere from 100-125 inmates returning for praise & worship, talks, music and prayer, along with the opportunity to eat lunch outside of the prison cafeteria. As a Deacon, I was asked to lead a table discussion after each of the talks, deliver a talk on cultivating community and answering questions at the end of the day about matters of faith specifically addressing sin. It was a quick, fast-paced day and so spiritually uplifting. As I've mentioned time and time again, ministering in prison so often is about the men ministering to me more than I minister to them. I particularly was impressed yesterday with the depth of knowledge and respect for various Christian traditions exhibited by the peer minister, an inmate, during our intense Q & A!
The day in prison ended about 3:15 PM and after we huddled up and prayed, we left and went our separate ways, all thankful for the gift of prison ministry. This Kairos ministry that I support is above and beyond my Catholic pastoral care responsibilities from the Archdiocese. Kairos is ecumenical. Many of the men come from a variety of faith traditions and quite a few of them were completely un-churched before participating in Kairos. I believe it is a very worthwhile ministry to support.
Saturday evening was supposed to be all about refining my homily for final preparation. When I arrived home Wendy had a house full of folks but I was able to retreat to my office to work on the homily. I took a break to eat some watermelon with everyone, caught one look at a watermelon seed and was immediately inspired to "tweak" my homily. I'm glad I was finished fairly early as my wake up time for Sunday would be the same as Saturday.
This particular Sunday was deacon preaching Sunday and I drew the 7 AM and 9 AM Mass assignments. This week's 3 parable in one Gospel gave me plenty to choose from but I felt led to really explore the mustard seed. I used that watermelon I mentioned earlier for some inspiration and Wendy supplied with a sampling of several garden seeds and also a basket of produce ready to eat. From there I explored small things becoming great, with our trust in Jesus, and I focused on Blessed Mother Teresa. Homilies were indeed delivered at the assigned Masses and the feedback was great. In one day to get a compliment from both your Pastor and your wife is a good thing! However, for me, the important thing is did my efforts, my openness to the Holy Spirit's guidance, break open the Word for the congregation and motivate them to action? That's what really counts! After arriving at Church by 6:30 AM and returning home after 11 AM, I was prepped to cut grass until the rains fell, and then fell some more!
I have had a very relaxing unwinding afternoon but, alas, no nap. I truly bet I will be so exhausted tomorrow as the work week begins and ministry continues. But my exhaustion has a certain satisfaction to it because I can't think of a better way to be a true minister of charity & service then the way I got to spend this particular weekend! It indeed has been an awesome weekend!
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