Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
August 21, 2016
Spiritual Ponderings               
Ten Lessons the Mass Is Trying To Teach Us
 
Let us continue our look at God’s ability to shape us through the liturgy.
6.            Ministry of Presence
                My first night as a priest in my first parish assignment my pastor handed me the keys and took off for a month’s vacation.  I remember saying a little prayer that night asking God to allow me to get through the night without having the emergency line ring.  The emergency line was a special extension that would ring the phone by my bed and wake me up.  The line was reserved only for cases in which someone needed a priest because their love one was near death.  About two in the morning I was awoken by the ringing coming from my bedroom phone.  Knowing that this meant there was someone in the hospital that was near death and needed a priest, I prayed that this particular time the situation would not involve a child.  God did not answer that prayer either.  On the phone was the father of a one year old who was dying with cancer.  He and his wife were hoping that a priest would come to the hospital and say some prayers with them. 

                I quickly got dress and drove to the hospital all the time wondering what I was going to say.  Over the next hour or two I sat with the parents and said nothing (at least nothing of importance from my point of view) I just listened as the parents amazed me with stories of their faith and trust in God and their love for their baby girl.  It was that night God taught me a very important lesson about presence. 

                We sometimes refer to the Eucharist as the Real Presence because we as Catholics believe that the bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus.  In a mysterious way God becomes present to us in a way that respects our free will.  As I spent that night remaining quiet and listening to the mother and father of the dying child, God makes Himself available to us through the Eucharist.  We always know where we can find God. 

                Some of you might say, can we simply pray to God in our room?  The answer to that is “yes” but just as Christmas decorations help us get into the holiday spirit so surrounding ourselves with holy things can help me feel God’s presence all the more.  I can look at a picture of my mom and be grateful for her or I can go and spend time with her and be grateful for her.  In ways that go beyond my power to describe we come to know there is a difference. 

                When I first entered the seminary, I dreaded Holy Hours (An hour dedicated to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament).  I could not figure how I was going to keep my attention on God for an entire hour.  Then one day it dawned on me, that I did not have to do the same thing for the entire hour and so I spent some time journaling, some time praying the rosary, and I always tried to include a good chunk of silence so I could simply let God know that I was there for Him.  All of these thoughts came to my mind a few weeks ago when I was called to the hospital because my dad had fallen out of bed at the nursing home.  All I could do was sit there and read my books as they took him for x-rays and blood tests but I know it made him feel better knowing that I was close by.  In a similar way I believe God appreciates our efforts to be close to Him. 
 
7.            Love Does Not Have to Big &The Best Way to Show Love is By Sacrificing for Others.
                On Holy Thursday night the night that we celebrate the Last Supper, which was the first Mass, in which the Eucharist was instituted, we read from John’s Gospel about Jesus washing the feet of His disciple.  Jesus took on the role of the slave and the servant to show us in a living parable of sorts how much He loves each one of us.  The Mass teaches me that through small ways I can love God and others.  For example, I can love God simply by asking God to be a part of my life and this I do at the beginning of the Mass when I call upon his name and make the Sign of the Cross.  I can improve my relationship with God and others by simply admitting that sometimes I make mistakes like I do when I participate in the Penitential Rite.  I can grow closer to God by simply listening to His Word.  My love for God grows as I hear all that He has done in order to rescue me from slavery of sin and death and this motivates me to want to help others in gratitude for all that God had done for me.  One last example, I see God become more vulnerable than I can ever imagine as He entrusts himself in the Eucharist to our care. 

Mother Teresa supposedly said “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” God who can do great things shows love to us many times in small things.

                Saint John Paul II in his writings talks about love as wanting what is best for the other even if it requires a sacrifice on our part to bring that about.  The opposite of love therefore is not hate but rather objectification.  Objectification is being where we use another person as an object so that we can fulfill our selfish desire.  At Mass we live out the ultimate act of love – Jesus’ death on the cross.  Repeat participation in this mystery if we allow it will change us to become more loving. 
                My brothers and sisters and I often joke about who is our mother’s favorite.  The joke is that they all think it is me because I am the oldest, most responsible, the priest, etc.  I have come to believe that my mother loves us all equally but that I have the best relationship with her.  God had gifted me with the insight very early on that one of the simplest ways that I could show my mother love was by taking sometime and talking to her each day.  Every day, I talk to her for anywhere from five minutes to a half-hour.  Most of these conversations take place over the phone but they do take place.  Many of my brothers and sisters despite the fact they were living in my parent’s house had periods of time where they did not talk to her because they were too busy and their relationship with our mother suffered. 
    
            Some of my brothers and sisters have caught on to this dynamic and I can see how their relationship with our mother has improved greatly because they are now taking time to talk to her each and every day.  The Mass teaches me the key to good relationship is sacrifice.