October 20, 2008

Grateful

Yesterday I finally got to my "home" parish to offer a Mass of Thanksgiving. Not that it was my home for very long; I was only a parishioner of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Quaker Hill, Connecticut for three short semesters when I was in college. Nevertheless, because I received the sacraments of initiation there, it will be always be home in a certain sense.

As I drove up to the church, I looked at the sidewalk and remembered how it was the last walk I took as an unbaptized seeker. The permanent deacon who baptized me assisted with the Mass, and among those present were his wife and my godfather, who is a captain in the Coast Guard and a professor at their academy. It was almost overwhelming to pronounce the Lord's words of consecration at the same altar from which I received my first Holy Communion.

So today, with two funerals on deck and trying to recover from a being absent from my regular ministry for a day, I am trying to remember to be grateful for my vocation. Gratitude saves us from so much misery.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Father Charles, your post reminds us of the great gift of faith each of us received at baptism and through the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation. Today, too many Catholics forget the tremendous gift that God gives to each of us. All of us should also be grateful to God for the gift of your vocation to the religious life and the priesthood, because it is a gift to all of us as well. Have a blessed day!

for narnia said...

hi Fr. C!
what a beautiful story! thanks so much for sharing it! i'm happy that you finally had a chance to go and celebrate your Mass of Thanksgiving there! i understand your feeling of being able to do something so special as to celebrate Mass at the altar of where you received the Sacraments. several years ago, i, too, had a chance to be an altar server at a special Mass at the church (St. Joseph's in yonkers) where i was baptized. it's a real honor and an awe-inspiring feeling to do something like this! i totally agree with "annonymous" that we (your friends) have been blessed through your vocation to the Priesthood/religious life. you have also been a great inspiration! thank you, Fr. C! (i've always felt that the Capuchin community is a very special one and i've always admired the special charism of the Capuchins!) it's an honor to be able to serve in the little ways that i do at Sacred Heart. you and all the Friars in your province and all over the world are always in my daily prayers. at monthly adoration every first saturday, i always offer prayers for all of you in a special way! PEACE!
tara t