This is simply a personal reflection; random thoughts on a quiet and somewhat pleasant late August night. Tonight was my Wednesday visit to prison. I love prison ministry. And our small but faithful Catholic community seems to be growing. On this particular evening we celebrated Mass thanks to Fr. Peter Hammet. At prison I collide head on with accepting people where they are and I offer words of encouragement around God's love and mercy. And as is so often the case, they accept it with open arms and hope, as they desire to change their life. How often do we encounter friends and family that don't want to hear that same message; at least not from one so familiar. I truly struggle with the reality of helping bring Christ to prisoners, strangers, others and how hard it is to impress this message to those so close. Is it hard to accept a relative or close friend as a messenger of God's word and a doer of His will? At times, to me, it appears so! Do others find this to be true also? Jesus said it would be like this; did he not?
I also get hung up on constantly posting all the things I do in ministry because I do not want to give the impression that a Deacon is simply a task master. It truly is more important to focus on who we are so that the good works can be judged in context: they flow naturally from an inner disposition that rests in God's will and Jesus' agape love. Yes, it is true that these past few days and the days ahead; clear through the weekend are full of things to do. But because of who I am, because of God's grace, I view these busy days ahead as joy and not tasks.
This weekend alone will bring the opportunity to furthur develop prison ministry with Kairos training, moving on to teaching for the first time in the diaconate formation program for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, assist at Mass for the quarterly celebration of the Knights of Columbus, baptize two new Catholics and preach a homily at the last Mass of the weekend. In the meantime, I will prepare both a Baptism homily and a Mass homily while completing my materials for class on Saturday. See what I mean? Sounds like a list of things to do. And yet it is. But this is not all that this is. By being open to God's grace, by cooperating with the call to sacramentalize service; this is who I am; not what I do.
And I have lots of folks on my heart and mind tonight I am praying for. I have friends who have lost their way; friends who are shallow; family members struggling; others recovering. I have co-workers with sick children, others with special concerns. I encounter a lack of peace among both family and friends. Yet there are others experiencing life events that bring great joy. How often during the day do we lift others up in prayer? Probably not often enough.
And yes I still struggle in trying to understand how good people can throw away a good life by chasing foolishness. Is the allure of popularity, ego, shallow relationships, excessive drinking and drugs enough to satisfy? Is being in any relationship; even a bad one, and an even worse one, waiting for the worst one really lead to happiness? Is impressing someone by how willing you are to abandon caution and good judgement for a roll in the sack build up your self esteem? Do we even spend one minute celebrating that we are indeed made in the image and likeness of God?
Join me when you read this post in praying for my faithfullness to my ministry, to my fairness to those I minister to, for standing strong in the face of adversity and rejection, especially from those I love, for those I pray for who are struggling with their own weakness. And pray that I will always minister with compassion and kindness never diluting the fullness of truth.
I should have also mentioned all those who came to our aid. So many performed heroic service in those days. God Bless them all.
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