Sunday, January 10, 2016

Sometimes you just have to share your own stories; tonight, why not?

Many years ago I posted that my blog would be used to share my homilies and personal experiences as a newly ordained Permanent Deacon.  I always share my homilies and sometimes my own personal stuff.  As my blog and my experiences grew I felt compelled to try and blog a little bigger and have used tons of Catholic and other resources to post articles that interest the heck out of me and I sincerely hope you too!  Today is one of those days I wish to reflect on my day, one of those times when an ordinary day far exceeded expectations.

My Saturday was all about working my professional job and then helping Wendy getting things done around the house, primarily putting away the Christmas stuff and putting out some modest Mardi Gras decorations.  I had no liturgical responsibilities this particular Saturday so I simply relaxed all evening, dreaming of a Powerball jackpot that some how eluded me.

This morning I awoke very early, got some prayers in and blogging done and prepared for my liturgical assignments.  Today I was assigned the 8 AM Mass and the 6 PM Mass.  I figured maybe I would have lots of down time but then I thought what a great opportunity to perhaps visit at Most Holy Trinity.  Why?  Well, it's been over 6 months now since I left MHT and it's only two weeks until the new church is dedicated at MHT.  So that's exactly what I did.  After assisting at the 8 AM Mass I drove to MHT and timed my arrival to be there at the 9 AM Mass was letting out and stayed until the 11 AM Mas begin.  I was able to visit with literally dozens of old friends and members of what I call my MHT family.  They kindly brought me up to speed with all the plans for the Church dedication which occurs on January 24th and the event in February where I will return as one of the Lenten retreat speakers.  It was incredibly reaffirming to have so many recognize my weight loss and that served to only motivate me to keep plugging away.  I did not stay for any Masses at MHT as I planned to go back to St. Jane's to see if I could help at the Mass in the Extraordinary Form.  I was offering to help with Communion as I knew our Pastor was under the weather.

Upon returning to St. Jane's I learned that Fr. Kevin was going to help Fr. Ken and I decided to stay and attend this Mass.  I am learning to appreciate the Mass in the EF and I truly appreciate the fact that it is part of St. Jane's schedule and part of the fabric of the parish family.  The Mass is truly beautifully celebrated and lasted about 75 minutes.  After Mass the community sponsored a luncheon so I attended with our Priests.  I had a great time meeting new friends and visiting with old friends.  Finally, I was able to return home after a long yet fulfilling day.  It was about 2:45 PM so I put my feet up, visited with grandchildren on Skype and prepared to go right back to Church.

I was asked to preach at tonight's Mass and was happy to oblige.  Tonight's Mass was very well attended and put a bow on the Christmas season.  Now at 8:30 PM I am home relaxing after an almost 12 hour day.  This was a great day; I truly enjoyed it and in so many ways helped me to worship, pray, grow closer to God and to be of service to God's people.

An awesome Sunday that hopefully will carry forward well into the week ahead!

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