Author Archive
“GodJoy”
Driving to work, a shiny new black corvette pulled up beside me. It was not the car that caught my attention but the license plate. The plate read “Godjoy.” I think Godjoy captures the spirit of Lent. Lent is the penitential season and hopefully we have found the right rhythm for our prayer, fasting and alsmgiving. We are sinners who forget at times that we have been saved and when we forget that we fall back into our old ways.
The faces of the saved
The past two Sundays there was lots of Godjoy in the Archdiocese as we celebrated the Rite of Election and the Call to Conitnuing Conversion. Gathered in the huge upper church of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception were 1,192 people who are seeking to become Catholics or to complete the sacraments of initiation. 1,192 faces with smiles of pure Godjoy. Together, with their sponsors they filled the Shrine and in the presence of Archbishop Wuerl and the auxiliary bishops of Washington, the sponsors announced these catechumens and candidates ready to receive the sacraments to initiation at Easter.
Sorrowful Joy
Another expression of Godjoy during Lent is found in the music of African-American Spirituals. Sometimes described as songs of sorrowful joy, they capture the spirit of Lent. Even in the misery of slavery and oppression, African-Americans, like the Israelites before them found a joy in knowing God has not abandoned them and only God will save them. Their song becomes the song of all sons and daughters of God.
God comes looking for us
At the Rite of Election, one Spiritual we sang is called Somebody’s Knockin at Your Door and it captures the Godjoy of the Spirituals and of Lent. We are not sinners with nowhere to turn, and the very act of turning is not our initiative but the spirit of God within us calling us back to our deepest joy-right relationship with God. Take a moment to listen.
On Pilgrimage–Passport not necessary
From the beginning Christians made pilgrimages. This picture comes from the Canterbury Tales, seemingly one of the most fun pilgrimages on record! One the earliest pilgrims was Egeria, a Gaelic woman who traveled to Jerusalem in the late 4th century and wrote some of the earliest accounts of the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter. Christians have been on the move ever since.
In the Presence of the Holy
In Catholic tradition, many pilgrimages follow in the footsteps of a particular saint. Other pilgrimages make their destination a visit to a relic of saint to seek his or her intercession. Still others visit a church or a place made holy by some event. This Lent in the Archdiocese of Washington, rather than going on pilgrimage, we are bringing the pilgrimage to you through an exhibit called The Eucharistic Miracles
A Pilgrimage of Adoration
Our pilgrimage is in conjunction with The Light is ON for You. At selected parishes, on Wednesday evenings, there will be an exhibit of the Eucharistic Miracles of the World. These Eucharistic miracles have a special place in the life of the church. The miracles took place all over the world and throughout the ages and remind us of Gods’ infinite grace and mercy. We hope that the storiesof these miracles will strengthen your faith and deepen your appreciation of the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. 
When presented with this idea, I have to admit that I was a little skeptical of what the display might look like and whether it would be of interest to people. However, when the exhibit arrived and I saw that the posters are really nicely designed and the wide variety of stories– some unbelievable and some unbelievably inspiring , I’ve decided that many people will enjoy learning more about the long tradition of these miracles that tell a grand story of God’s presence made visible in an extraordinary moment.
I think it is also important to note that believing in these miracles is not essential to the faith. A Christian is not obligated to believe in Eucharistic miracles. These miracles can, however, encourage a deeper appreciation for the Eucharist. Their stories may help a person discover the mystery, the beauty and the riches of the Eucharist. Visit one of the exhibits and tell us what you think.
Mapping the Pilgrimage
The exhibit will be on display during Lent on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. at the following parishes:
WASHINGTON, DC
St. Peter, Capitol Hill, (2nd & C Streets, SE)
Our Lady of Victory, (4835 MacArthur Boulevard, NW)
Immaculate Conception, (8th & N Streets, NW)
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
St. Raphael, (Falls Road at Dunster Road, Rockville)
St. Catherine Labouré, (11801 Claridge Road, Wheaton)
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY
St. Mary of the Assumption, (14912 Main Street, Upper Marlboro)
Sacred Heart, (16501 Annapolis Road, Bowie)
SOUTHERN MARYLAND
St. John, (43927 St. John’s Road, Hollywood)
Jesus the Good Shepherd, (1601 West Mount Harmony Road, Owings)
The means are not the end
In these early days of Lent when we are reminded of the disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving and the grace that these practices offer us, we can easily forget that Lent is not about perfecting the practice of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These disciplines are a means to a deeper relationship with the Lord and a stronger commitment to service.
Today, I want to share with you the homily that Fr. Scott Hurd preached in Saint Ursula’s chapel at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center. For me, it captures what a “successful” Lent can do for me! With thanks to Fr. Hurd.
Serviam
For many of us- and I include myself- the first thing we do in the morning is reach for the snooze bar! However, there are some Catholics who make it a practice to immediately rise from bed, kneel on the floor, and pray the word “Serviam,” which is Latin for “I will serve you, God.” This is an intentional echo of St. Michael the Archangel’s pledge of service to God, a contrast to Satan’s “I will not serve.”
In service to the Lord
This little prayer, “Serviam,” is a reminder that our vocation- our purpose in life- is to serve God, serve the Church, and serve our fellow human beings. Our Lord stressed this very point in today’s gospel: If we wish to follow him we must deny ourselves; we are to lose our lives for his sake and that of the gospel. To put it another way, Christianity is more about what we can do for Jesus, than it is about what Jesus can do for us. The Christian life is one not of selfishness, but surrender; not of self-fulfillment, but of self-sacrifice; not of self-service, but of service to the Lord.
So perhaps the prayer in our heart today might be “Serviam,” as we leave this Mass with the dismissal, “Go forth to love and serve the Lord.”
Co-collaborators with Jesus the teacher
At a certain point on my daily commute I end up behind a Metro bus. I need to make a turn just past the stop and so I tend to just sit behind the bus while it is unloading and loading passengers. For the past ten days or so the ad on the back of the bus is the Archdiocesan ad celebrating Catholic Schools Week. It got me reminiscing about my days in Catholic school (12 years to be exact) and my most favorite and least favorite teachers.
It is a vocation
In the least favorite category is my second grade teacher-who even to an eight-year old- seemed to be a very unhappy person. One day, I shared with my mother that “I hate her!” Well, my mother had a few things to say about that: Firstly, hate is not something that “we” do. If we love Jesus, we do not hate people. Secondly, she asked me to consider what a day in the life of my teacher looks like. She arrives at school early after having prepared lots of different activities to help us to learn. She has 25 some students who all learn in different ways and she has to try to have lessons that incorporate all of these differences, She spends the whole day in a classroom with all of us whether she is feeling great or feeling sick, whether she has lots of energy or is tired. Then at the end of the day she goes home to take care of her own family and do more work to get ready for the next day. I’m sure my Mom had more to say, but you get the idea. The fact that I am writing about this some forty-years later makes it obvious that I got what my Mom was saying. Teaching is hard work and first and foremost, teachers are to be respected. For something that seems so obvious, I wonder why as a society we so undervalue the teaching profession. That’s fodder for a thousand blogs, but this one is a request to identify and celebrate the great women and men who are teaching in our schools this year.
The Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching Award
Nominations are now being accepted for the Golden Apple Awards which will be presented to 10 of our best teachers on May 13. This award exists in only five dioceses(Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Harrisburg, Toledo) and has it s origins in the gratitude that the Pittsburgh-based Donahue Family had for the teachers that educated their 13 children!
Someone you know
A teacher can be nominated by their colleagues, parents, and students. A committee at each school will review the nominations for that school and select an individual to represent the school in the archdiocese-wide competition. Nomination forms can be picked up at school or found here. www.CatholicSchoolsWork.org.
If you are a parent of a Catholic school student, pick the best teacher and complete a nomination. If you teach in one of our schools, why not nominate the teacher who has served as a mentor, if you are a student, why not start a campaign for your favorite teacher.
Called to be a co-collaborator with Jesus the Teacher
If you are someone wondering about teaching and teaching in Catholic school, take some time to pray and discern if this might be the vocation to which the Lord is calling you. Happily, for some people, spending the whole day in a classroom full of kids is pure joy and it shows!
Love will change everything
Recently, I nixed a request to promote a Valentine’s Day party whose theme was “losers.” It is a party for those who will not have a date on February 14. I get that it is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but I still think it’s wrong. It bugs me the way that Catholicism for Dummies bugs me. Catholicism doesn’t need to be dumbed down and Valentine’s Day is not just a couples only event. In fact, as was recently pointed out by Sheldon, of the T.V. show the Big Bang Theory (the daily life of socially awkward, geeky scientists), it is a curious association between St. Valentine, the third century priest -martyr and the Hallmark crazed contemporary celebration. For Sheldon’s take, watch this:
While I don’t want to endorse the “Sheldon-alternative Valentine’s Day plan,” I do want to offer a “Valentine poem” of a different sort. This is a prayer written by Pedro Arrupe, a former Superior General of the Jesuits. I think the prayer captures not only the source of real love but what real love looks and feels like. I may have shared this prayer before in this space, but I think it is good enough for a repeat.
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is,
than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out
of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings,
how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you
know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy
and gratitude.
Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.
Preparing for Lent
Maybe, like me, you had to do a little shoveling this weekend! My neighbors were out of town and because I actually like to shovel snow, I shoveled their steps and walk, wondering if I could bank this little work of mercy for Lent! Are you like me, often approaching the spiritual life like it is an account with God the banker to which you make withdrawals and deposits? Pondering all of this, I remembered a story that changed the way I think about Lent.
When I was in graduate school, I returned to class after Easter break and my professor shared with us the Easter Sunday homily he heard in an Orthodox parish. Following the Opening Prayer, The priest greeted people by saying “For those of you who have kept the Lenten fast, who have been faithful in prayer, who are prepared to enter into the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection, rejoice, this is the day the Lord has made.” The priest continued, “for those of you who are here and wish that you had been better about keeping the fast, about praying, about works of mercy, fear not and rejoice, this is the day the Lord has made.” And the priest continued, “for those of you who let Lent pass you by, for those who may not have thought much about our Lord since last Easter and are here today—and here there was a pregnant pause—rejoice and be glad for this is the day the Lord has made for you!” Father said you could almost here a gasp in the congregation—is this for real?
He was, as the Brits like to say “spot on.” Salvation cannot be earned, it is pure self-gift. The lesson for me is that a well-spent Lent does not gain us points. A perfect fast or 100% attendance at daily Mass, or perfect record of an act of kindness a day is not the point. Teresa of Avila had an insight that sets a good tone for Lent. She writes of sitting in a chapel, gaze fixed on the crucifix and being overwhelmed by the realization of how much she took for granted having been saved by our Lord. How utterly oblivious she was to the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Make a Plan
These two stories present a challenge. They challenge us to decide that we are going to spend Lent exploring the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, opening ourselves up to the awesome mercy and love of God. What, this Lent, will help us to enter more fully and completely into the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection? The Church suggests prayer, fasting and almsgiving as focal points for consideration. These disciplines open up some interesting possibilities. I want to offer a few suggestions:
Prayer: More is better
Carve out more time for prayer. The Archdiocese of Washington is asking every parish on every Wednesday night (beginning February 24) in Lent to have a Holy Hour and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Consider blocking out some time on Wednesday evenings to enjoy the quiet of contemplation in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Not sure how to pray in a contemplative way? Click here for some help www.adw.org.
The Wuerl Plan
In a homily, Archbishop Wuerl told the story of a parishioner he met who desired to make daily Mass a part of his daily routine. He was having a hard time keeping his commitment because his days were full and busy and it just wasn’t working. Rather than giving up, the man decided that he would make the commitment to go to Mass one day a week for a year and in the second year, add a second day and so on, so that in seven years, he would be attending daily Mass. The Archbishop commented on how reasonable that plan seem to be for a busy lay person. If it is good enough for Archbishop Wuerl, it may be good enough for you!
Fasting
I do believe we have lost the art of fasting. I use to convince myself that I really couldn’t fast for 12 or 24 hours and not feel ill, light-headed, or cranky. To be sure many people are not able to do this but I have learned to test my limits and found if I put my mind to it and make it prayerful, I am able to fast. Fasting is one of the oldest practices of the Judeo-Christian tradition. One author speaks of it as a “response to a sacred moment, not a way to get what we want from God.” Fasting is linked to Lent because Lent is a period in which we recognize our sinfulness and how unaware we are of God’s enormous capacity for forgiveness and mercy. Fasting is a form of prayer that allows us to focus our minds on the reality that ultimately only God can satisfy our hunger and thirst. A traditional fast is to consume nothing but water (and for some not even water) for 12 or 24 hours. If this is not a healthy choice for you, a more common fast is smaller and/or fewer meals. Choose a fast and keep it.
Almsgiving
The kind of self-giving love that Jesus so perfected in his death was the culmination of a life in which he chose at every turn to be generous, loving, kind, to freely give more and more of himself so that when his Father asked to give his very life, he could say “yes,” as did his mother before him, and Moses before her and Abraham before him. Almsgiving is the practice of freely giving of our time, talent and treasure. In many cases, it does not even require that we leave home to do it.
And One More…
I suggest one more practice—spiritual reading. There are so many Catholic classics that can enrich and nourish our spiritual life and bring us into a deeper relationship with the Lord. I want to suggest three classics and one contemporary book that is tailor made for Lent.
Augustine: The Confessions
The Confessions is readable and timeless as Augustine writes honestly about desiring to love God with his whole mind and heart, but just not ready to make the changes in his daily life that this requires.
Francis De Sales: The Devout Life
The Devout Life, written in the early 17th century, is one of the first books that looks at the spiritual life of the lay person as something distinct from the spiritual life of priests and religious. It is Francis, the Bishop’s attempt to reflect on the call to holiness in the midst of the world.
Teresa of Avila: The Way of Perfection
Though The Interior Castle is Teresa’s greatest work, it is not so easy to read. The Way of Perfection was written for her sisters in the style of a teaching manual and so it is straightforward as it breaks open the discipline of the spiritual life
Mary Margaret Funk: Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life
Sister Mary Margaret is a Benedictine Sister who has been a teacher and prioress. In this book she examines fasting, The Jesus Prayer and Ceaseless Prayer—all good Lenten practices.
A skeptic discovers that marriage ought to be taken seriously
I’ve had a lot of conversations about marriage over the last couple of months and in many of them, I am asked to defend what people call the outdated, antiquated teaching of the church. I am always looking for ways to show how in the two thousand plus years of experience the church has had with marriage it has learned some incontrovertible truths. I am always looking for help in making the connection between culture and faith. One of the gifts of truth is that it makes sense yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Help from the most unlikely places
Much to my surprise, help has come in the recently published book by Elizabeth Gilbert. Imagine this—you are an acclaimed author, you write a hugely successful book in which you conclude, among other things, that you will never marry again. However, than man with whom you fall in love with at the end of the book and with whom you imagined being together, forever without the benefit of marriage, needs to get married in order to be able to live happily ever after–legally– with you in the U.S. What’s a woman to do? If you are the author you write a book. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage is the story of how it all works out happily ever after. But let’s go back to the beginning.
Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Eat, Love Pray was an Oprah Book Club sensation. It hit a cord with millions of women as she explored with honesty and humor her difficult divorce, her awful rebound relationship, and her year-long journey of “spiritual seeking” through Italy, Indonesia and India. Why the tour through the three “I’s?” She chose Italy for pleasure, India for its spirituality and Indonesia as a place to explore the balance of the two. I believe a lot of the book’s appeal is that it speaks to so many people who have lived through the pain of a failed marriage and a divorce and it speaks to a common longing for a chance to escape it all in a grand way.
To Gilbert’s credit, when faced with the real question of marrying though having publicly stated her rejection of the institution, she chose to spend 10 months research and studying the history and meaning of marriage so as to be able to honestly enter into another marriage. Though I have not read Committed, I have been reading and watching a number of interviews with her and have gained some insight into her thinking.
Marriage Fundamentals
Let me state clearly that Gilbert does not espouse a Christian understanding of marriage. Why I find her insight helpful is that she realizes that certain fundamental concepts are critical to marriage and make the institution of marriage beneficial to couples and society. She asks many of the right questions and her answers provide the makings of a very interesting conversation.
Before she began work on her book she thought of marriage as a “repressive tool, suffocating and irrelevant.” In a recent interview(wsj.com), when ask about what she thinks of marriage now, she writes of marriage “as having a capacity to evolve and adapt(over thousands of years) in a way she finds miraculous and kind of inspiring.” Furthermore, she believes that we carry into modern marriage the expectations and social memory of thousands of years of history…” In Christian language we talk about the concept of marriage existing from the very beginning of God’s plan for creation. We talk about marriage as a private relationship with a public significance and indeed Gilbert writes “marriage is both a public and private concern, with real-world consequences.” She writes wisely of how easily people confuse marriage with weddings. Marriage requires a maturity that thinks about life beyond the wedding day. She writes however of how she has come to respect the public significance of marriage beginning with the importance of ritual and ceremony for people, families and societies. She believes that the vows publicly recognize that the status of the couple has changed and they are moving into a new phase in life. As Catholics we use the language of the grace of the sacrament and the commitment to be a sign of God’s love and fidelity to the world. We insist that marriages take place in a church building because the church building symbolizes the role the couple’s marriage will play in the life of the community.
Self-Giving
One area in which her interviews have engendered a lot of conversation is that she claims that marriage is not for the young! She suggests that one needs a certain maturity to endure the disappointments, and even contradictions, one discovers about marriage. It seems to me that it is not so much age as the ability of spouses to grow together that enable one to navigate the ups and downs of married life. More importantly, it is the model of Jesus’ self-giving love that teaches us the most about married love. While Gilbert, in no way embraces this nuance, she does admit that one thing she fears– and the one thing which every married person with whom she spoke talked about—is how critical the act of self-sacrifice is to marriage. Marriage, she finds provides the space needed to learn how to live this self-giving love.
It is interesting to see that in a time when popular culture seems to reject the teaching of the church on marriage, one critic of marriage, especially Christian marriage, appears to have re/discovered some of the church’s age-old wisdom. We can only hope that this discovery will eventually lead to a full understanding of sacramental marriage as the fullest expression of married love.
Priests who make a difference
The Catholic Standard, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington has opened up a space in their online edition to share stories of priests who have made a difference in our lives. What a great way to share the ordinary and extraordinary ways our priests serve God’s people.
As Mentors
Here’s my story. I don’t think I would be doing the work I am doing today if I hadn’t met Fr. Dave Fitz-Patrick. Fr. Dave is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington who is a military chaplain serving in the Air Force. I met Fr. Dave while he was serving the Diocese of Fairbanks as pastor at Sacred Heart Cathedral. I was a Jesuit Volunteer. My volunteer assignment was to serve as youth minister and coordinator of social concerns for the Cathedral parish. About three months into the job, I discovered that I loved everything about it!
The year was 1985 and at that time there were not many lay people involved in parish ministry and so while I entertained thoughts of doing this work full-time after finishing my volunteer year, I assumed that it really wasn’t possible for a lay person. I did not think I had a call to religious life and so I decided that I really shouldn’t think to much more about it.
About a month later, Fr. Dave asked me what I planned to do after my volunteer year. I said I wasn’t really sure. He asked me if I was enjoying my work and I said I loved it. He then asked if I would think about serving the church in a full-time capacity. I asked if it meant becoming a nun because I really diidnt’ think that was what the Lord was asking of me. He said that it did not necessarily mean that– as there were lay people who were beginning to work in parish ministry, but it would mean studying theology.
A deal of a life time
He then made me a deal, if I would agree to stay on in my job, I would be given time in the summer to study theology. It was a deal I couldn’t refuse and it began a mentoring relationship that saw me through two masters degrees and a doctorate! It was the prayer, advice and support that Fr. Dave gave me that helped me develop the spiritual life and practical skills I needed to serve the church in ecclesial ministry.
In big ways and small
I really knew he had my back, when I took a position as a pastoral associate in a parish and he called to check in on me and asked how it was going. I told him I made my first visit to a home-bound parishioner and when I asked her if she had a favorite prayer we could pray together, she responded with the Memorare. I hesitated because I did not know the words by heart. She saw my hesitation and commented on her concern for the future of the church, if “people” couldn’t pray. I was pretty embarrassed. Three days later in the mail I received a hand-made palm size copy of the Memorare with a note saying to hang in there and keep visiting the sick!
Click here and share your favorite story. http://www.cathstan.org/main.asp?SectionID=53&TM=46024.06
A Simple Kind of Mission
From the Mission Trip, Laura writes:
In truth, our faith calls all of us to mission work. While some are called by God to do mission work like that described above, there are very simple ways to bring Christ to all people, as He has instructed us. The “ministry of presence” is perhaps the most powerful way, particularly with those we are serving here.
On our first day at the City of Charity, a priest asked one of our missionary, “What are you doing today?”
“I don´t know,” he replied.
“Well, the most important thing is that you are here.”
The people here at the City of Charity know that we are here to be with them and they know that the reason we are here to be with them is that we love them and they know that the reason we love them is that Christ loves all of us. This is mission work in its simplest form.
While some here are blind and deaf, mentally disabled, or clinically insane, we have been repeatedly surprised by their acknowledgement of our loving presence here. Whether in their smile, their laughter, their head on our shoulder, or their hand squeezing ours, we know that they know that they are loved. That is the gift we bring.
Now, do abandoned, deaf, blind, insane, elderly, or diseased people only live in third world countries? Nope. Do you have to travel twenty-seven hours in order bring Christ´s love to them? Nope. Do you have to risk your health or your life in order to be with them? Nope. It´s your grandfather. The woman living next door. The man in the retirement home down the street. The little girl at the community center downtown. There are plenty of people in the Washington, DC area who need you to show them that Christ loves them.
Have you made your New Year´s resolution yet?
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly, that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through us, and be so in us,
that every person we should come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, Jesus, will be all from you.
None of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching:
not by words, but by our example,
by the catching force,
the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for you.
Amen.
(daily prayer of Mother Teresa based on prayer by Cardinal Newman)
On Mission in Argentina
Laura Ferstl asked me to post this blog from the mission trip that the Officeof Missions and the Office of Young Adult Ministry is sponsoring. Laura wrote this morning from the city of San Rafael in the Mendoza province of Argentina. I am here for a second year in a row as part of the Annual Young Adult Mission Trip which is a collaboration between the Archdiocesan Office of Young Adult Ministry and the Pontifical Missions Office.
We are here to serve in the “City of Charity” run by the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word. The City of Charity began in the early 1990s thanks to the dedication of Father Carlos Miguel Buela (the founder of the Institute) and Father Raul Harriague. Currently, it is comprised of five homes for children, teenaged boys, teenaged girls, mental and physically handicapped men, and mentally and physically handicapped women. They have come to the homes because of abuse, abandonment, broken families, or economic hardship. More than just housing, food, and education, they receive the love of the priests, sisters, and volunteers who make up this Religious Family.
Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:37-40
At the close of each day, the missionaries have been sharing with each other where we saw the face of Christ that day. I want to share a few of our reflections to give you a taste of the blessings we´ve experienced so far.
We´ve seen the face of Christ in the priest who, with the gift of his paternal instinct, feeds a mentally handicapped man in his forties who can´t feed himself while lovingly speaking with a younger mentally handicapped boy who has just had a fit, inviting him to behave better.
We´ve seen the face of Christ in the 12-year-old boy who was both malnourished and starved for physical touch when he was younger and constantly hugs us, holds our hands, sits close to us or on our laps, and invites us to love him selflessly.
We´ve seen the face of Christ in the sister who sits quietly with a physically handicapped man in a wheeled chair, swatting away the flies that land on his face since he can´t do it himself.
We´ve seen the face of Christ in the young boy who, as we paint the cement walls of the dining room, enthusiastically pays us a compliment just when we need it.
We´ve seen the face of Christ in the mentally and physically handicapped middle-aged woman who comes to greet us with a kiss leaving a trail of saliva, and in whose eyes we can see a perfect soul.
We´ve seen the face of Christ in one of our fellow missionaries whose face lights up each time the curious little girls come by to say hello, making known to them that they are loved.
And we´ve seen the face of Christ in His beautiful creation here in Argentina: the summertime flowers, the vineyards, the mountains, the streams and rivers, the animals, and the clear blue sky.
We are half way through our time here, and I am sure that Christ will continue to be present to us each day. Please pray for the fruits of this mission trip! God bless!
