February 12, 2012

The Grind, The Mercy

Refold alb and amice. Tie it all up with cincture fitting for the next liturgical day. Put it in the book bag, hang the book bag by the door.

I go places and I say Mass. It's what I do.

Monasteries, parishes, chapels, route 9, Orange Line, Green Line, 9 bus, 7 bus. Break the trip in half to go to confession at St. Anthony's. Here's the intention for today. No, there's no offertory procession today. Yes, the ministers receive the Precious Blood. No, they do not. There will be announcements. Yes, the children need to be blessed as they go to hear the Word. The catechumens too, after the homily. The coordinator will remind you to give the pyxes to the nursing home volunteers. Sunday Mass one. Thanks for coming, Father. Have a good week. Sunday Mass two. Thanks for coming, Father. Have a good week. Sunday Mass three. Thanks for coming, Father. Have a good week. Binate, trinate, live your faculties to the fullest.

I go places and I say Mass. It's what I do. After a while I feel scattered and a little homeless and I have that funny interior vertigo of someone who does the same thing over and over and I start to wonder if I'm really praying right, or even praying at all, but I don't care because I know this is God's mercy for me, a mercy he has been working in me since long before I had so many vain ideas to get in the way.

Refold alb and amice. Tie it all up with cincture fitting for the next liturgical day. Put it in the book bag, hang the book bag by the door.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me like you're starting to miss the intimacy of parish life, the ministry, and the relationships that develop.

Sara said...

Yes, but really, THANK YOU for doing all that.

Gregory B. Sadler said...

Thanks be to God for the work and sacrifices of service priests!

Traveling and saying mas, day in day out, does sound as if it ricks becoming a grind. but, the work you do -- offering the mass, making the sacraments available to those who might otherwise miss them, is a great service.

Though I'm giving it to you, rather than to the priests to whom I personally owe gratitude for their similar work and lives int he past, let me say Thank you, Father.