As I stood at the ambo and began the narration from the Passion of the Lord, I looked up and saw only an iPad looking back at me. The pews in the church were empty and it was absolutely silent. The parishioners could see me on their livestream, but I could not see them. This was my first Palm Sunday as a seminarian and as a lector and it could not have been more unusual.
“God became man, so that man might become God.” This is a rather shocking phrase. Written by St. Athanasius in the fourth century, it succinctly captures the truth of the Christian faith. Since we celebrate this great saint’s feast May 2, I want to share a story which might help illuminate this Christian boast penned by Athanasius.
The first and only movie I have ever watched while wearing a full suit and tie was, of all things, Disney’s “Frozen 2.” Five brother seminarians and I did not have time to change after an event, so there we were, six grown men decked out in black suits, watching what was then the latest Disney release.
“I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy” (Ps 43:4).
“Per favore, Padre. Posso avere qualcosa da mangiare?”
The homeless man in front of me would like something to eat. He asked me for food yesterday, and he is quite likely to ask me again tomorrow. Same time, same place.
One of the questions sisters get most often — from students, discerners, or people we meet in the grocery store — is this: What do you do all day? Behind this question is another, unspoken question: Why do you do what you do?
“We have the cross.” This was the answer to a question during a panel discussion at the seminary, boldly proclaimed by a brother seminarian when the question was posed, “What is uniquely attractive about the Catholic Church?”
Imagine you were able to follow the footsteps of Jesus, visiting the places Jesus visited with his Apostles. Just one month before I was ordained to the transitional diaconate, I had the grace of visiting Israel and was immersed in the places we read about in the holy Scriptures.
When I realized that my seminary class trip to Italy would take place over our Christmas break and I would miss my grandma’s 100th birthday, I considered not going. However, it was with her that I first traveled there when I was 13 years old and saw Pope John Paul II, and I knew she wouldn’t want me to miss this opportunity. All she asked for was a pearl rosary.
Five candidates to the permanent diaconate were installed as lectors at Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington Feb. 8.
