One of the men in our parish has a young teenage son with Down's syndrome, and he happened to be serving at Mass on this day. They walked up together in the procession, son carrying the cross, father faithfully walking next to son. They sat next to me by the ambo, and at a few points, the son simply leaned over and gave me a big hug. It's so typical of those with Down's to have little inhibition, to express love so purely -- how much we can learn from them. If anyone happened to look over, I hope they saw an exchange of God's love, and that it made them smile. Even if my singing still makes a few grumpy.

Saturday, April 10, 2010: Gifts of Nature

I took a hike this week with a friend in the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area, located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in north St. Louis county. Here in the St. Louis area we've been blessed with spectacular weather this Easter week, and so it was under blue skies that we set out to enjoy the outdoors.

At one point on our walk, we were startled by what sounded like shotgun blasts, but we quickly realized what we were hearing — a great tree had reached the tipping point and was falling over on itself — wood splittling and cracking, crashing down to the ground. It had probably been lingering there for some time, and a gust of wind was the final push it needed. We were able to quickly identify the location of the tree from the sound and witnessed the final crash, resounding with great power and force. Looking around at all the other trees lying on the ground, we realized that these had all fallen at some point, but as it only takes 10 seconds or so, it's pretty rare that one gets to witness the event. A gift.

As we reached the confluence overlook, watching the power of the rivers made an impression on me. The great volume of water moving at such speed was hard to believe. Yet another example of the power of this created world, slowly but surely eroding, churning, falling, renewing. View a few pictures that I took to see a few very small friends that we met on the walk.

Monday, March 1, 2010: Oil For Our Lamps

This past weekend I had the privilege to sing at yet another beautiful healing retreat in Vandalia, IL for Our Sorrowful Mother's Ministry. Fr. Michael Lightner, a former Divison I offensive lineman who had NFL scouts calling but found his way to the seminary instead, spent the weekend sharing much wisdom. He spoke with a passion and a conviction that inspired me. I'm grateful for his conversion, for his vocation, and for his commitment to truly live out his priesthood completely invested in serving the Lord, calling us to do the same in whatever vocation that the Lord has given each of us.

One image that Father Michael shared that really stuck with me is that our prayers are like putting drops of oil in our lamps, as we await the return of the bridegroom (Christ) along with the virgins in the parable that Jesus told in Matthew Chapter 25. Some didn't bring enough oil, and when their lamps went out, they had to go back into town to purchase more oil. While they were away, the bridegroom whom they were awaiting came, and they missed him. And so our prayers are like filling our lamps – or another's lamp – with oil, helping us to be prepared to meet Christ on his return.

This has been a great insight for me, to know that by offering a simple Hail Mary in faith with another in mind – perhaps one of my godchildren, my parents, my sister, my fiance, my enemies, anyone and everyone – that I can help them to be more prepared to meet Christ. What a beautiful kernel of wisdom, to know that our prayers can make such a huge difference in the lives of others. The past 24 hours I've been filling lots of lamps with little drops of prayer that Fr. Michael reminded us truly make a difference.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010: God Whispers...