Another day and...

no new posts. I keep telling myself, making promises that I will post something new every day, and well, here it is, 9:15 in the evening, just got upstairs from a day's work, and the last thing I want to do is sit at my computer and post something. So, could I offer this up for a cause?

Why so late this evening? Two reasons: first I had a Kairos Mass for Elder High School at Marydale Retreat Center in Erlanger, KY, followed by a Holy Hour for Vocations at St. Julie Billiart in Hamilton, OH. If you know the geography of the area, they aint exactly close to one another and I had an hour between the two. Rats, late. But luckily only by a few minutes.

First the Elder Kairos Mass: I taught at the school two years ago, and the current crop of seniors were my second crop of sophomores (and last, it turns out.) So I know all of the guys, as they have literally all occupied a desk in my classroom for one semester. I am not sure if it is a good thing that they are so happy to see me when I walk in, but that's another story. The Kairos thing is still something that I am not entirely comfortable with. I think it has run its course, but I am not sure how to say that. I would rather that there be more Adoration, more focus on Christ, and not on feelings and sharing and blah blah blah that guys don't do well. Make it about being a Catholic gentleman, make it about living the faith as a man, make it about modeling our lives after the saints. Obstacles to God's Friendship? What the Hell does that mean???? My biggest problem that I see is that this retreat equates a religious experience with an emotional high. By that measure, Mother Terese of Calcutta had no religious experience for nearly the last fifty years of her life. I don't think so, Tim!

The hour drive between events was a time warp. Hmm, a Holy Hour for Vocations, what'd we do? Well, Adoration was all day at the parish, from the morning Mass to Evening Prayer with Benediction at 7:00. (Ok, well, we started at 7:07, but that's beside the point!) St. Julie's has 15 copies of Shorter Christian Prayer, and happily we needed twice that number for tonight, maybe closer to 3x. We were very happy for the turnout. Evening prayer could have been much smoother, but we plowed through it. We had a few in attendance that read what was on the page, fast. A few were of the opposite tendency, and read what was on the page slowly. (They were trying to keep their children caught up.) The end result was that the recitation of the psalms ended up being rather chaotic. Oh well, that leaves room for improvement. The reading from Romans fit very well with an idea for vocations, so I reflected on that for a few minutes. I really wish I would have had some notes, as I felt like I was hitting all over the place and didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to say. (It isn't good to say "One final point..." and talk for as long as you had already been talking!) Alas! After the Magnificat and the Intercessions, we prayed the Litany for Vocations together, and that seemed to go much better. I love doing Benediction, and wish I had more opportunity to do it. Maybe again at St. Julie's, who knows?

So, I find myself back at my palatial estate here at the Mother of All Churches, at least for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. I am scared to look at my calendar for tomorrow, as I know it starts early and ends late again. Inbetween, I have to get notes together for a meeting next monday, and find out what I am doing for this coming weekend for Mass. (Are we supposed to look at the readings ahead of time?!?!?!) Anyway, keep the faith out there, it's a mad world, and they are trying to get us down. Smile, say hi to someone on the street, and if all else fails, think remember, God loves you. Everyone else? hmm, what do they matter anyway?