Five days; Deacons do but still, it's who we are

These five days in early Advent have been busy; incredibly busy!

Wednesday night we celebrated Confirmation with Bishop Cheri and 18 newly confirmed young adults!  What an awesome evening.  Before the Confirmation Mass we were able to attend a dinner for all the clergy and PSR teachers who prepared the confirmandi for the big event.  It was a very beautiful evening, from food and fellowship to the Mass which saw the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in this final Sacrament of Initiation!

Thursday night did give me an opportunity to go home after work but the time was used to prepare next week's Bible lesson and to catch up on some important updates for prison ministry.  Prison ministry is a great gift but it also collides head on with state government bureaucracy and red tape!  Still, so worth the effort!

Friday night I zipped to St. Jane's after work to preside at our First Friday Benediction.  I love sharing reflections when I preside and I focused this month on the origins and development of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Of course the highlight of Benediction is always Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and that exact moment of blessing, aka, Benediction!

After a last minute cancellation of a planned Saturday at Rayburn, I managed to make my way over to Slidell for the Bible Timeline Live Conference with renowned apologist and teacher Jeff Cavins.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day, a 6 hour walk through the Bible that walks you through Salvation History in a chronological order.  What a day!  Of course this is Saturday and that means the weekend liturgies are upon us and I was assigned the vigil on Saturday night. 

Sunday morning brought a leisurely drive to Abita to enjoy the events of this 1st Sunday of December and 2nd Sunday of Advent.  We have our 1st of the month morning fellowship with coffee and doughnuts so I thought I would attend even though I had no liturgical assignments until the evening.  I also wanted to support our St. Joseph Guild who had a tasty fundraiser today.  Tonight we had our 1st ever Holy Hour with Benediction before our last mass of the weekend.  I arrived at Church in order to preside at Benediction before we set up for Mass.  It was a beautiful first night for the Holy Hour and believe it will become a big deal here at St. Jane's!  I hung around for Mass since I was the Deacon assigned and now I am resting at home, before I begin a 4 night run of meetings and ministry!

Deacons indeed do, still at the end of the day, it's who we are that makes this work and all for the Kingdom; serving God by serving God's children!