Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New year! I have forgotten how busy the life of a priest can get before Christmas.  I had to look back on the calendar to see what I’ve been doing for the last two weeks.  Here at the parish we ended the season of Advent Christmas eve morning with the Mass of the day.  We had Mass nearly every day during Advent.  My hope is that this helped to foster the spiritual preparation of the parish for the celebration of the Birth of Our Lord. 

Since Christmas landed on a Friday this year I spent the week preparing my homilies for both Christmas and Holy Family which landed the following Sunday.  We began to celebrate Christ’s birthday Christmas Eve with carols at 4:30pm. We followed with Mass in English at 5pm Mass and Spanish at 7pm.  The late night crowd started arriving at the church at 10:30 to save seats for the Midnight Mass (at midnight) and we ended about 2pm.  Later Christmas morning we celebrated the “Mass of the Day” at 9:30 in English.  The songs, the scriptures, and the community seemed filled with joy and awe at the mystery of our Lord’s birth. 

We did have some trials through it all, but I kept laughing.  After all, why should everything go perfectly my first year as a pastor?  At the 5pm vigil we had no baby Jesus!  At the 7pm vigil we had three!  At midnight Mass, my homily seemed to have disappeared!  So, by 9:30am morning Mass, nothing was forgotten.  All I could do was laugh and enjoy the time spent with the people of God. 

In the secular world Christmas is over, but for the Catholic Church we celebrate Christmas until the mass of the Baptism of our Lord.  This gives us a fuller spiritual sense of the mystery of God present among us.  So the following Friday I began again at 5pm Saturday night to prepare for the weekend vigil Mass of the Holy Family followed Sunday by our regular Mass schedule.  At the weekend Masses I reminded everyone that January 1^st the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.  I told them that this day is a holy day of obligation.  We the church are a family, and just as we have family obligations at Christmas time, we have family obligations as a Church to celebrate certain feasts, particularly one celebrating the Mother of our Lord.  So tomorrow we will have Mass at the Church here during the Christmas Season at noon in honor of our Lady. 

I love being a priest this time of year! 

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Catholic Church celebrates special feast days in honor of Mary the Mother of Jesus.  We call her our “Blessed Mother” for on the cross Jesus gave her to all of us when he says to the Beloved Disciple, “Behold your Mother” (John 19:27).  One such feast day is December 12^th.  On this day we recall her appearance to a native Mexican peasant Juan Diego.  The Mexican people hold this day close to their hearts.  Before the sun rises they sing to her to show their love for her.  Then with devotion they pray the rosary reflecting on the glorious mysteries of Jesus Christ through the eyes of Mary.  Finally they end with a Mass dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe and continue to celebrate after Mass with food, drinks, song, and dance.  As a priest I celebrate this time with the people because it holds a special place in my heart.   While studying Spanish in Puebla, I had the opportunity to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.  Looking back, I believe that I first fully answered my vocational call in the same general location Our Lady first appeared to Juan Diego less than 500 years ago.  Because of the mystical experience I had there, I joyfully celebrate with the Mexican people the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The Weeken Marathon

Weekends seem to be full of events here at the parish.  It’s almost a marathon.  Saturday began with morning Mass at 8am.  I continued getting the office ready until about 10am then came back at 2pm to put the finishing touches on the Sunday homily.  We had confessions from 3:30pm to 5pm as we do most every week and then the Sunday Vigil Mass at 5:30pm.  Normally that would be all that I would do on a Saturday evening, but a priest needed some help so I went to another parish right after the vigil mass here to celebrate the vigil mass for another Catholic church down the road.  I got back a little after 9 in the evening, woke up early the next morning, said my prayers and came to the parish to offer the Sunday liturgy.  Normally we have 3 masses on Sunday.  9:30am Mass in English, Noon Mass in Spanish, and 5:30pm Mass in English (this is our Life Teen Mass.)  Most of the time this is all I would do, but this Sunday had a packed schedule.  After the morning Mass I heard confessions for the kids in the religious education program which took all the time I had before the next mass.  During the noon mass we celebrated a baptism and a convalidation.  After the noon mass I had the honor of eating with and giving a spiritual talk to the Christian Family Movement about Advent and Christmas.  I also spent some time giving them a reflection on scripture.  After that, I prayed vespers in the church privately to prepare for the last Mass.  After Mass the teens and I celebrated a holy hour together in the church with songs of praise, some time for silence, a scripture reading, and benediction.  I went home after that to pray night prayer and plop into bed.  Running from one event to the next made me feel like I was in a marathon, thus we had another fruitful time during the marathon weekend here at St. Anthonys.

Meetings

Meetings take up much of a priest’s time.  There are different kinds of meetings: committee meetings, council meetings, family meetings, liturgy meetings, staff meetings, and individual meetings.  Yesterday for example, started normal with prayers and Mass.  Then right after Mass I attended the Presbyteral Council in Portland of which I am a member.  This lasted most from 10 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon.  I takes about an hour to get to the east side of Portland and another hour to get back especially with congested traffic.  When I got back to the parish I met with an individual and closed the office.  Today also I started the day with prayer and Mass and then jumped into meetings.  Meetings generally take about an hour.  For the better part of an hour a family came to prepare a funeral for next week.  For another hour a representative of a charity group met with me to inform me of their ministry.  And I met with some individuals about different things.  A priest cannot reveal the content of most meetings because they tend to be very personal and emotional.  Alongside of meetings we assemble for prayer in liturgy.  The Mass is an example of such a gathering that a priest attends.  Later tonight we have planned a gathering in the Church for a reconciliation service.  There are some of the things we do as priest, most of which need meetings.  Please pray for us that the Holy Spirit may guide our minds and hearts to discern the will of God and carry it out as we meet.

A day under construction

The longer I’m a priest the more I realize the need for order among the chaos.  For me that begins with the office.  Yesterday after the 8am Mass I spent about two hours going through mail, e-mail, and telephone messages.  This is typical for Tuesdays.  I met with a few people as well for a couple of hours and felt bad about my office because I had cardboard and parts for the office bookshelves scattered all around.  I spent about three hours in the afternoon assembling both.  Its good stress relief to do some construction, but it takes time.  Now that the office is more organized it will be more comfortable meeting people who need to talk and heal.  Along with the office under construction our souls are being built up in the image of God.  Last night the parish hosted the 2^nd of 3 evening mission talks.  Fr. Peter from Hillsboro has graciously accepted the challenge of bringing me and the members of the parish to a holier life with God.  Last night he gave a reflection on Psalm 55.  This psalm describes the feelings of a man who has been betrayed by a good friend.  As a Christian it is easy to see Christ speaking about Judas in this passage.  But for us, sometimes we imitate Christ and sometimes we imitate Judas in our relationships with others.  Sin divides us. God’s love unites us.  So we build up the office and the soul.  All in a day’s work in the life of a parish priest.

Holiday Weekend

Holiday weekends can fill up with family and Church events in the life of a priest.  I began Thanksgiving Day as normal by praying the liturgy of the hours.  Then we celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving here at the church giving the collection and large donations of food to St. Vincent De Paul society that works out of the Anthony house here on our campus.  Of course being close to home I was able to have a big dinner with my family and friends at my parent’s house.  Friday began as usual with the Liturgy of the Hours and continued with friends and family.  We closed the parish office that day to give the staff and myself a longer break.  After my time with friends I when home to put up my parents Christmas lights with my family. It’s a family tradition.   In the evening I said my prayers and went to bed. 

 

This weekend was different than most.  Fr. Peter from St. Matthew’s in Hillsboro and I switch parishes this weekend.  So Saturday I went there and baptized lots of children in the morning and heard confessions that afternoon.  On the Lord’s Day I celebrated Mass there as well at 8:30 and 11:30 in the morning in English and 5:30 in the evening in Spanish.  All in all a good weekend filled with God’s blessing and a thankful heart.

A Day of Sacraments

Last summer Pope Benedict declared that this year would be the year of the priest.  It’s my hope that this blog will help people come to understand what we priests do in any given day.  The life of the priest consists of patterns and random acts.  Today seemed like a day of the sacraments.  I started off the day with my normal prayer routine at home.  Came to celebrate the 8am Mass here at the Church, then visited with folks after Mass.  Next I went to visit people who cannot come to Mass and bring them the sacrament of anointing along with a lay minister who brought the Eucharist to give to those same people.  After that I celebrated Mass at Jennings and about twenty people came.  During the Mass I anointed them also.  I proceeded toward Hillsboro where I spoke with Fr. Peter about our parish swap weekend and got things cleared up with him.  Next I went to lunch with a friend, then headed off to the SSMO to plan the alumni Mass (Dec. 11^th @ 6pm in the Chapel) with the sisters.  I came back to the parish to meet with a people and set up for the Thanksgiving Day Mass.  Once I finished getting ready for tomorrows Mass I made some phone calls and did some office business.  All this in the life of a priest: 2 masses, 17 people received the anointing of the sick, 3 meetings, and some time for phone calls and office work.  Mostly today was a day of sacraments in the life of the priest.

It's Time

So I got on line today to have a blog. 

We're On!

I''ve finally got a blog. Thanks to all of you hounding me. :-)