Everybody's working for the weekend

One of the things that happens in the life of a Permanent Deacon is your weekends are full; very full. I'm certainly not complaining. This is part of what I signed up for. Remarkably, this is my off weekend from assisting at Mass and preaching. That being said, I did prepare a homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King and will post it Saturday.

My weekend starts early; tonight in fact as I prepared for some marriage enrichment, completed the homily and worked an outline for an upcoming talk at a Supper & Substance event. Tommorrow, a Friday, will give me a chance to assist at daily Mass, visit some parishioners, meet with an aspiring Deacon candidate and head over to New Orleans to hear an awesome presentation by Dr. Scott Hahn. This Catholic convert, once a great persecutor of the true faith, Hahn is widely regarded as one of the foremost Catholic speakers and apologists. By the way, apologist in this context means defender of the faith.

Saturday will be travel day. First, I will attend an early afternoon session for the class of aspirants who are applying this month to become Deacon candidates. Then Wendy and I leave for the beautiful town of New Roads to speak at a Supper & Substance event at St. Mary's Catholic Church. The title of our talk is: in love, inseparable and incompatible; two out of three ain't bad...

I promise to post the results of the evening early next week.

Sunday will be interesting. The Solemnity of Christ the King brings an end to our liturgical year, at least as far as Sunday's are concerned. I'm unassigned this week so I'm torn between attending Mass at a neighboring parish or staying at the home parish. Going away allows me some quiet time as I sit in the pew with my wife and also a chance to drink in the liturgy from a different perspective. But this week, at my home parish, we will have a special celebration for this Sunday with the unveiling of our new processional cross and use of our new incensor. These beautiful additions to our sanctuary are part of our sanctuary renovation.

Of course Sunday may still bring many opportunities to minister; it usually does. And I will be watching those New Orleans Saints!

And still I affirm; it's not what you do...it's who you are!