SCC the digital version or my "homily" for the 1st Sunday of Lent.

J.M.J. 

I decided to start my Lenten book challenge off easy, I was already reading Mark Hart's Behold the Mystery and have most of Cardinal Dolan's Doers of the Word read so I decided that they counted as one book and would be read on Ash Wednesday and the days that followed.  I did finish both of them, but they were easy reads.  In Behold the Mystery Mark Hart suggests spending time with all four readings for Sunday's Mass.  I always think of Small Christian Communities (SCC) at Seton Hall when I think of this, because that's exactly what we did.  A bunch of us met each week with Fr. Bill to discuss the readings for the upcoming Sunday.  I know we inspired a bunch of homilies for him and it was fun and interesting to discuss the readings for Sunday.  We typically came up with about 4 or five questions to go over, and by we I really mean me. No, it was mainly Fr. Bill until one day I heard "hey, Mar, my newest, bestest, best bud, do you want to write the questions for SCC tonight."  I know I had some sort of smart ass response but I can't remember it, but I do remember him saying, "but your's are good and better than mine" or something along those lines to me.

I've decided to do a digital version of SCC though it's more of a Lectio, which now that I think about it is what SCC was, but we never treated it that way.  Now, I know why Fr. Bill suggested Lectio Divina years later, and that's what makes him one of the best priests I know.  This also makes me laugh at how God works.

Any way I figured I might as well spend time with the readings and what better place to "talk" about it but the almighty inter-webs.  I know that a lot of people don't read this and it's mostly for me, but hey you never know who might find it and learn something.  Here's the link to Sunday, February 22, 2015 Mass readings  .  The USCCB page was giving me issues before, so I'm not sure if it will load correctly or not, but they should have an interactive calendar on the home page if the link doesn't work.

So the first reading comes from the Book of Genesis and it involves Noah and we can assume that the ark was involved too.  The daily readings link doesn't give you the footnotes like the actual Bible pages do; the New American Bible Revised Edition aka the NABRE is on the site. I have to give credit to said Bible as my bishop, Bishop Arthur Serratelli, spent "7 years of his life" working on it. It's also the Bible we hear at Mass.  I was going to look for the footnotes, but the website is not loading on Chrome anyway, not sure about other browsers.

Anyway, back to the first reading. Most of us know the story of Noah, the ark and the flood.  In the first reading we get the promise from God to Noah that the world will not be destroyed by water again.  God saved the world because of one righteous person, Noah, well eight people if we count Noah's wife, sons and daughters-in-law. God promised that He wouldn't use water to destroy the Earth again.  I'm currently sitting through a Biblical Call Narratives class for my Masters and Certificate program, so we've been discussing the Old Testament far more than the New Testament and I'm fine with that because we so often skip over the Old Testament that we don't look to it for wisdom, even though it is one of the books of the Old Testament.  God made a covenant with Noah and his family and the sign He gave them was a rainbow, or so we traditionally say it is.  Even today we are always in awe when we see a rainbow in the sky.  I remember a few times when my family was in Ireland that I was told, "get you're camera, there's a rainbow; oh it's a double rainbow; quick before it goes away."  I happily oblige as there is something special about rainbows precisely because we don't see them that often.  I usually think of pots of gold at the end of a rainbow long before I think of God's promise to Noah.  I don't think oh that's a reminder that God will take care of His family, I think oh that's pretty.

We have a glorified idea of Noah and the Ark, that thing had to stink to high holy hell with all those animals on it; yeah think about that, gross isn't it.  The stench didn't stop Noah or his family from doing what God told him and that ark wasn't small, it did have to fit two of each animal and 8 humans on it; so the hard work didn't stop Noah either.  Noah trusted God and was rewarded for it; God saved the world because of Noah's faith and actions.  One person saved the world, that sounds familiar doesn't it.  As my pastor reminded us at his Lenten Friday Night Lights aka his seasonal sessions on Catholic things, we, the younger generation often look at the Old Testament as some nice stories that we hear but don't really pay attention too. It's true we look at a rainbow and think, oh that's pretty, we don't think oh God's reminding us about how He saved us all those years ago with Noah.


I was about to jump to the second reading when I read the psalm. So often the psalm is forgotten or not preached on.  A few weeks ago Fr. Ray spoke of the psalm because it happened to be his favorite and the music ministry happened to play his favorite setting of it.  I don't remember what psalm it was but it reminds me that as Mark Hart said in Behold the Mystery we so often forget about the psalm.

The refrain of the psalm is "Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant." My initial thought as I read it in church was, how the heck are we doing to sing this one.  It's interesting that the psalm uses the work covenant.  Today we don't think of covenants, we think of contracts which is sort of what a covenant with God is.  I try to say Liturgy of the Hours every day, there are plenty of days where I don't say one or any of the hours, but it has allowed me to get to know the psalms better or least notice which ones they use all the time.  The first verse of the psalm has us asking God to teach us His ways.  The second verse has us asking God to be kind to us and to remember us in His compassion.  The third and final verse reminds that God guides us, teaches us and shows us the way.  When we pay attention to the readings we see how they are linked together. Noah followed God's ways and kept the covenant and therefore passed on the faith to the generations that followed him.

The second reading is from St. Peter's letter.  It's rare that the second reading is not from one of St. Paul's readings just because he takes up the majority of the New Testament.  When I went to type the blog at first I kept thinking where did I hear "prefigured baptism" it must have been in one of the books I read, no it was from the second reading as I realized as I sat in Church. I think my mind had wondered during this reading, and I laughed to myself as I thought of Mark Hart's comment of well, at least you will have gone over the readings in case you start to not pay attention at Mass.  In this reading we are reminded that Jesus suffered for sins once, that righteous one suffered for the unrighteous.  Here we have that righteous man saving the world again.  Yes, that righteous man from the first reading is in essence a prefiguring of Jesus for one man saved the world.  Rarely do we have the readings so connected, or at least it seems that it's rarely that the first and second readings connect; let alone mention the other.  Noah was a prefiguring for our baptism, though the water of Baptism we are saved, but we can't forget about Jesus and how His saving act is what truly saved us. St. Peter reminds of that at the end of the reading.  Our salvation is not about being physically clean but about having a clean and clear conscience.

The Gospel is one of the shortest ones I can remember. It's literally three verses long. It's five sentences from the looks of it.  Of course on the first Sunday of Lent we are reminded that Jesus was in the desert fasting and was tempted by Satan.  This reminds that Jesus knows exactly what we go through each Lenten season.  Jesus knows that we are going to be tempted to eat what we gave up or tempted to not pray because I'm tired or some other excuse. In this short Gospel we get the idea that Lent will not be easy and that we will be tempted.  In the second portion of the Gospel we hear the words that we also hear on Ash Wednesday, depending on what saying the person who is placing ashes on your forehead uses.  "Repent and believe in the Gospel."  The gospel is the good news that Jesus came to save us all but we are so far removed from it that we often forget it.

I always try to get one thing out of the homily and while Fr. Ray actually preached on the first reading, using a great example of the Benedictine Abbey in Newark and how they because the ark for young men in Newark it was his preaching on the Gospel that stuck with me.  Fr. Ray mentioned the idea that we are obsessed with survival shows.  It got me thinking of Naked and Afraid, Bear Grylls' shows, the one with the military guy and the hippie guy and of course Survivor.   The line that got everyone to laugh was, "Survivor: they send people out to a remote island for 40 days and have all these tests and rituals they have to go through; we've been doing that for 2,000 years it's called Lent."

It's so true we are throwing ourselves out into the dessert to hopefully be drawn closer to God by giving something up or whatever we planned on doing for Lent.  It won't be easy as we will be tempted, but at least we've not voted off the island.



In cause you were wondering why the J.M.J. (Jesus, Mary and Joseph) randomly appeared; I've been writing it on my handwritten notes since college and after seeing another blog with it and Cardinal Dolan post a homily with the letters at the top I figured if they can do it so can I.

Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday

So now that it's almost a week away from Easter, I'll sit and blog about the homilies I heard. So I finished out the Triduum with the Vigil and was quite impressed with my new pastor. While not Fr. Brian's passionate take on the Eucharist and the Priesthood from Thursday night, it was a good homily. Fr. Martin and Fr. Brian are similar yet totally different.

Fr. Martin has seemed semi subdued in his homilies since arriving at the parish, however his homily from the Vigil caused me to remark "I think we got a glimpse of the real Fr. Martin tonight." It can not be easy for a man to pack his bags and leave everything he knew to come to a new country 41 years ago as was asked of Fr. Martin when he left Ireland to come to the States to serve the diocese as a priest, to be asked to do the same thing again shows how much the man loves the priesthood and reminds us of the vow of obedience. As I say the bishop says "jump" the priest responds with "how high?"

Fr, Martin started out his homily by telling us that he was strengthened in his own faith by us, the community of St. Anthony, coming out in great numbers on Palm Sunday, and the amount of people who came for the Triduum. The Church was not packed as it has been in the past but we did have a decent crowd at each of the sections of the Triduum. (Our parish is also 3 times the size if not 4 times the size of his old parish) Fr. Martin went on to thank those that help make the parish beautiful, the staff, Frank (who is in charge of the flowers and decoration of the church), music, servers, readers, Eucharist Ministers, and hospitality. Saved him from having the mention everyone at the end of the Mass, and it was nice to hear in the homily.

Fr. Martin went on to talk about those who have lost a loved one and how Easter is what reminds us that we are buried as a tired body, no soul... that death is a door way to the next life. He went into this by telling us a story of a 4 year old boy who was visiting the cemetery with his grandmother. As he started the story I turned to my friend Jerry and said oh "like Sean" as Fr. Martin mentioned that the young boy was running ahead of his grandmother. While running ahead of his grandmother the young boy stopped by a tombstone and started asking questions, "what's that, what does that say" The boy's grandmother explained that one part was the person's name, the other the date that person was born and the other date the day that person died. A bit further up the graveyard the young boy stopped at another tombstone and asked the same questions, the grandmother responded with the same answers expect this time, there was no date of death, this person was just thinking ahead. The little boy went home and was asked by his mother how he day was and the little boy answered with, "we went to the cemetery and there are people buried there that aren't even death yet." Of course the congregation laughed and
Fr. Martin moves on to how losing a loved one is hard and never easy but that we should remember that we are just a tired body when we are buried, that our souls go to Heaven to be with Jesus, Mary and the Saints, and saints.

Fr. Martin told a second story. He mentioned that we may not know but that he's a huge football fan and he spoke of how a few years ago, when the Giants weren't doing so well, some people took him to a game. He told of how he sat at the game surrounded by Giants fans and how he heard the Giant fans behind him cheering throughout the game. It was strange as the fans would cheer as the Giants would fumble the ball, which is of course not something you normally cheer for. Turns out that the fans behind Fr. Martin had their headphones on and were listening to the Yankee game and the Yankees were playing well in the playoffs. The church erupted in laughter. Fr. Martin finished up his homily with "in the same way that these fans were pumping their fists for their teams, we are to go and pump our fists for Jesus and proclaim that He is Risen."


So when Fr. Brian walked into the gym pumping his fist, I turned to Jerry and said, oh someone took last night's homily to heart. Fr. Brian looked at us like we were crazy but when we said, homily last night fist pumping, he laughed along with us. Easter Sunday was no different for Fr. Brian, he gave another kick ass homily. Like Fr. Martin he spoke of death and resurrection. Fr. Brian spoke of how Easter is reason death isn't bad. He started by having us take a moment of silence for those whom we knew who last in the last year, he had happened to lose his godmother this past year and his mom within 5 years. (Which makes me think that his mom died shortly after he was ordained, he speaks of how her proudest moment must have been when he was ordained, so she was alive for that.) Anyway, both homilies caused me to think of my friend, Katie, and how this would be her first Easter without her son, and then it made me think of her two aunts who had also lost children in the last two years.

After that reminder that Easter is what makes death not so bad, Fr. Brian focused on the Eucharist and that we should be there 52 Sundays not just Easter. He told us that Easter was the time to either commit or recommit to attending Sunday Mass. It was a very nicely put, get your ass to Mass, comment, and that is why I love Fr. Brian, he very nicely said to come to Mass, like you are supposed to. He tells you as it is and is offended if you don't agree.

He went on in his homily to speak about how at Easter "as the risk of sounding like a woman, I buy a new pair of shoes every year at Easter." Fr. Brian's shoes were nice and shiny so I assumed they were either polished or brand new. He spoke of how we should go get new shoes so that every time we put those shoes on we say, I'm going to be a better... priest, son, daughter, mother, father, friend, person. Fr. Brian then added in well in this economy maybe you can't afford new shoes, so get a new toothbrush and pray while brushing your teeth. Saying let no gossip or evil come out of my mouth.

The passion with which Fr. Brian speaks amazes me, like Archbishop Dolan (he's in my head because of his installation.) he is a happy man, a happy priest and that shows. With a last name of Sullivan, I'm assuming there is a fair bit of "Irishness" in him so he can be feisty you can say, but he always preaches to himself first and then the people. You will always hear him say, make me a better person, a better priest, us better people before he says ." make you a better person."

Fr. Brian's priesthood and personality have a tremendous gift to me, I just wish I was able to put it into words. I'm sure that Fr. Martin will have some influence on me in the coming years. I pray that both Fr. Brian and Fr. Martin are granted many years at St. Anthony's and that they continue to be great priests.

Inauguration 2009

What I wouldn't give to be down in DC with a huge sign that says "you can't be CATHOLIC and PRO-ABORTION" Since I can't afford to be down there, I'll do the next best thing and post it on my blog.




I had hoped that the Bishops would have used this as a teaching opportunity, and I know that some of them did. My parish preached on FOCA this past weekend and Deacon George's homily was awesome. He started his homily by pointing out that he and his would be celebrating their anniversary on the 20th and how he unlike most men does not forget his anniversary. Deacon George said that this coming Tuesday there will be an historic Inauguration as the first African American will be sworn in as President. Deacon George pointed out that he is praying for President-elect Obama and that he hopes and prays that Obama does not start his presidency off on the wrong foot by passing FOCA. I had a feeling the good deacon was going down this road when he mentioned the 20th, and I've know Deacon George for about 15 year as his son and I were in our parish youth group together, I knew I wouldn't mind where he was going with his homily. I actually thanked him after Mass.

Deacon George took a page out of Fr. George book and did the whole "well George, why are you going down this slippery slope" question followed by his answer. His answer had tears of joy in my eyes. I was so happy to hear someone from the pulpit say defeat FOCA, and his reason just added to it. Deacon George pointed out that this so called "freedom of choice" act has no choice in it. He pointed out that Catholic hospitals, doctors and nurses would be forced to go against their morals to perform abortions. He pointed out that our tax dollars would be used to pay for abortions. He pointed that we as Catholics (he's learned from Fr. Brian to just say Catholics vs. Catholic Christians) have to listen to Jesus' call in the Gospel to stand up and defend what is right and moral, and that means life from conception to death. Deacon George is also the director of the local funeral home, he is very good at both jobs, deacon and funeral director. I don't remember the fully, but I can probably get a copy from him. He did mention the March and the parish prayed for those of us who will be attending the March and we prayed for President-Elect Obama and the other officials in this country to have a respect of life from natural conception to natural death. There is more to the pro-life movement than defending the unborn, and I am fully aware of it. It just pains me that we have elected 2 men who think "terminating" a baby is a woman's choice.

I have watched my friend Bridget's current pregnancy (mainly because we have a standing dinner/tv date) and it is amazing to watch her little girl kick the remote that sits atop her mom's belly. Interestingly enough when we talk about Obama, the little girl inside her mother's uterus kicks and kicks alot, we say oh there she goes, she doesn't like him, well he does think it's ok to kill someone in her position so I'd be kicking to say "hey I'm here don't forget about me." That little girl has nothing to worry about her parents have been married 4.5 years and the oldest in the family is 3.5 years old and baby #4 is growing nicely inside her mom.

Mr. Biden, I ask as a Catholic citizen in the US, that you re-think your stance on abortion and that one day you will return into full Communion with the Church. For now I will stand in prayer with the protesters who will be at the Inauguration and pray for the safety of this country most especially the unborn.

Real Men wear pink

That's what Fr. Brian told us at Mass today, and I couldn't help but laugh as I hear a comment along those lines almost every time a priest wears his "pink" or rose vestments. We had a member of the Salesian sisters talk to us today about the retirement fund collection. For a woman asking for money, she was quite entertaining and I was disappointed in myself that I had left my envelops (for the parish and the retirement fund) at home, but I'll drop them in the basket next week. Sister spoke after Fr. Brian gave us a short homily, not his shortest as that was his Exaltation of the Cross homily, none the less his homily was good as usual. I don't remember all of it as I suffered trough Bible study right after. Normally one doesn't expect to hear suffer and Bible Study in the same sentence, but alas for me the Bible study I was supposed to help run, has now become some time for me to the classic "offer it up" prayer of a Catholic.

Anyway back to Fr. Brian's homily, he spoke if his annual trip to the local mall, Garden State Plaza, and how how felt "loved" and "needed" as he past by the kiosks in the mall hallways. I almost asked him if he was in uniform aka wearing his collar, I was close, but not close enough to actually ask him, nor do I have the guts to ask a question in the middle of one's homily. I take it that he wasn't in his collar, because he pointed out that as a woman at one of the kiosks said to him something along these lines, "you're handsome, would you let me exfoliate your head." Fr. Brian's response was "for goodness sakes leave me alone I'm a priest." The woman's comment is made funnier as Fr. Brian is bald. Fr. Brian continued to point out some of the things he saw or heard at the mall, and the young man behind me and I were laughing because he works at said mall and I worked at the mall, so we knew all too well as did most of the people in the Church what Fr. Brian was talking about.

Fr. Brian pointed out that these people will only "love" us until the 25th but that God will and does love us long beyond that. That was the basic point of his homily, that God loves no matter what. I don't want to confuse what Fr. Brian said with what was said in Bible study, so I'm going to stop there as mentioning Bible study will set me off on a rant.

Exaltation of the Cross

Today we got a homily that "11 words long." Fr. Brian came forward to give him homily and simply asked "how much does Jesus love you"... Fr. Brian walks over to the pulpit and picks up a crucifix (Fr. Brian gives him homilies from the middle of the altar) and says "Jesus loves you this much." Fr. Brian placed the crucifix on a podium-like column and says "please kneel" the entire congregation kneels while on the organ is played Were You There. After about 2.5 verses Fr. Brian stands up and continues on with Mass.

Fr. Brian placed the focus on the Cross, what more could you ask for on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

Get Behind me Satan! *updated*

So the title of this comes from the Gospel from Sunday Aug. 31st, it was the continuation of the Gospel from the week before. The idea of St. Peter being so good one day and so bad the next as always amused me, as well it really does sum up how must of us are. I was once told to read the Passion, and watch Jesus of Nazareth (the movie) during Holy Week to "make up" for what I thought was a "bad Lent" and to see whom I was most like. Sometimes I say Mary because of my name, but almost always when I think about it, I'm Peter. We all are, one day I can say OK JESUS, and the next day unfortunately deny Jesus, but when it comes down to it and it matters I say THAT'S RIGHT I'M WITH JESUS.

Interestingly the word deny comes up in the Gospel. "Deny one's self, take up your cross and follow me" are the words of Jesus we hear. Recently I've been leaning towards wishing to hear Fr. Brian's homilies, but Fr. George did a good job with this one. I laughed when the homily started because Fr. George did his typical joke to get everyone to pay attention and because I said to myself "I didn't read Fr. Jim's homily before Mass this week, must mean this one will be decent." It's usually true that if I read Fr. Jim's homily via his blog before I go to Mass that the one at St. A's is lacking. Fr. George's was decent, it didn't blow me out of the water, but honestly most don't.

Fr. George focused on the aspect of deny one's self which leads many times to taking up a cross that was expected yet unexpected and finally it all leads to following Jesus. I remember Fr. George saying that deny one's self meant we didn't need all the material possessions that we so often want and "need." He spoke about how when we deny ourselves something that we can gain from in. In denying one's self one is to cling to Jesus, hence why this line usually get quoted by people. Fr. George mentioned at one point and I remember this because I'm usually surprised when he touches upon the topic of "pro-life" activities from the pulpit. He spoke about how taking up one's cross means going against the tide in some cases and while those are not his exact words, it did make me think of the election and the "pro-life" movement. It was a basic stand up for what you believe in type homily, which I guess I need reminding of everyone once in a while.

The week before I happened to have Fr. Brian at Mass, and it tells you something that nearly 2 weeks later I still remember the homily. I happened to be sitting in the first pew, which I haven't done since my days at Seton Hall. I felt a little too close to the presider's chair, but alas that wasn't too big of a deal. The week before August 24th was the Gospel where Jesus commends Peter for knowing who He is and getting it right. Jesus does add in, this was revealed to you, which it is. Fr. Brian tied this into the apostolic succession and the succession of St. Peter to the current Pope. I remember Fr. Brian speaking about Humane Vitae and how we should read what the popes have written especially the current Holy Father and the last one. I laughed as Fr. Brian said that because I have read the writings of JP2 and I am currently reading Jesus of Nazareth by PB16 (as Fr. Brian calls him)and was reading Humane Vitae. Fr. Brian spoke of how Paul VI's document was prophetic in essence and he went on to point out 3 passages about how if artifical contraception was allowed that the country would do down hill, well as Fr. Brian put it, "I think he (Pope Pius VI) hit that one on the head.

What makes Fr. Brian's homily so interesting is that later on that night while a good friend and I were watching TV our other good friend called us to complain about the homily she got. (Side note the 3 of us earned the nickname unholy- holy trinity, as the 3 of us were RCIA sponsors and well for the most part inseparable in college) Any way my friend's homily was about how there were three major mistakes in the Church: Galileo, the Crusades, and Humane Vitae. I turned to my friend who was watching tv with me when I head her repeat what she heard and I said, oh no way, let me tell you about my homily.

At one church you have a good holy priest speaking about how Humane Vitae was a great document and that we need to read what the Popes have written and to listen to what they say, while at another you have a deacon who speaks of how the same document was a giant mistake in the Church.

This is why people don't know what to do, or what to believe. It amuses me that on on the same day these homilies were given that Nancy Pelosi was stepping in the largest pile of crap she could find. Props to the bishops who have used this as a teaching moment and those that continue to do so. It saddens me when people don't know or fully understand the Church that they were raised in, let alone ordained to a ministry in. People are confused because they can hear two different things and nothing is said as to whom is right. Thankfully the bishops came out and defended the Church and Her teachings.

May St. Peter continue to pray for us as we need it.

Some wickedly great homilies!

Over on Fr. Jim's blog there's a pretty good homily for today! Fr. Brian over at St. Anthony's had a good homily too, which is usually the case. Fr. Brian tied right into the whole "proud to be Catholic and proud to be American" aspect of the weekend. Humility-generosity-charity more to come on this in a little while!

Thanks, giving, oops and wow

Those are the four types of prayer according to Fr. Brian in his wonderful homily this Sunday.

Thanks: thank you God for...
Giving: give me____ God
Oops: forgive me Lord for...
Wow: Wow God

Fr. Brian told us he would speak about Prayer and the Eucharist and like usual it was an awesome homily. In my years of actually paying attention to the homilies, meaning from College on, I have yet to find a priest like Fr. Brian where I actually remember his homilies. Fr. Bill comes in at a close second, Fr. George is slowing dropping in the ranks, but he is still up there.

Fr. Brian had a great tie-in of Prayer and Eucharist and First Holy Communion. It is so easy to see that he is a man of prayer and how much he cares for the Eucharist. Watching him "clean" his paten after consuming Jesus is a joy, he takes the time to wipe the particles into the ciborium and is just simply a joy to watch celebrate Mass.

more to come when I don't have 500 things on my mind, such as "it is wrong that all the jobs I might be qualified for, are not appealing to me."

Although "jobs are not appealing to me" is still on my mind along with other things, I decided to continue my thoughts on Fr. Brian's homily from 5/4/08.

I went to Mass on Sunday half expecting to hear the same homily I got last week on the Lion King and Jesus, I was thankful to see that Fr. Brian had the Noon Mass. That meant I was getting Fr. Brian homily, and I love his homilies. Fr. Brian spoke about the mentioned types of prayer, which he "came up with" on his own, and tied each one of them into the Mass. He was thankful for the kids making their First Holy Communion, for being at Church for his family, for the church of St. Anthony's, for Mass. Next came the "give me" prayers you know give me this, give me that, followed by the oops I made a mistake prayers. When speaking about the oops prayer Fr. Brian said, "not one of is ever far enough away that we can't come back to the Church." I may not have gotten it word for word, but his point was/is that not one of us is perfect that we all make mistakes, and we can all come back to the Church. This point should have been taken by some of the people, I was going to say parents, but that's too judgmental, in attendance, as it was obvious that some had not been to Mass in quite some time. The last section of prayer was the wow prayer, where Father pointed out the simple wow factor of prayer. He almost at once moved in to the Eucharist being the ultimate form of prayer.

How right he is, the Eucharist, the celebration of Mass is the "best prayer" we have. To hear the words "best prayer" and "Eucharist" come out of a priests mouth makes me want to jump for joy. I'd jump for a job too like I almost wrote. I wish I remember the actual ending of the homily because I thought, that was awesome! Fr. Brian continued on with the rest of Mass, coaching as necessary for those that hadn't been to Church/Mass in a while. I remember thinking, "oh good he didn't use the dumbed down version of the Eucharistic prayer." as he began the Eucharistic prayer. It irks me that people assume children can't understand the "big" words that are used in the Eucharistic prayer. I've heard the same prayers over and over again, did I get them at first as a child, no I probably didn't, but I still knew what happened when the priest said the words of the Consecration.

Fr. Brian has a very no nonsense style when it comes to saying Mass and I love it. Some priests like to ad-lib some of the words of the prayer, and for the most part it's ok, it won't kill me to think of it a different way, but Fr. Brian does not or at least very rarely deviates from the Rubrics. I can't put into words what this means to and for me. I am utterly speechless when it comes to describing my feelings about it. It's nice to not feel like the lone "conservative" on the Liturgy Committee anymore. I know that whether or not we actually say something, that for the most part we are thinking the same way.

Fr. Brian arrived to St. A's in September, that December I opted to go to the "new one" for Confession, Lent came and I let Confession slide, but the Cornerstone retreat took care of that and after much deliberation in my head about whether to go to Fr. George or Fr. Brian I chose Fr. Brian, and I am glad I have chosen him. I don't know why but I feel like Fr. George has stopped caring about what I have to say. Depending on the event or Mass Fr. George makes a point to say hi, Fr. Brian on the other hand will throw in a comment or two. Take the Easter Vigil when Fr. Brian told me I looked beautiful. Not the first time I've had an ordained man tell me I'm beautiful, but it still amuses me. It reminds me that they are human and well so am I. ;)
Fr. George typical of a guy didn't notice when I highlighted my hair, or if he did, he didn't say anything. Fr. Brian asked if I had changed my hair, I responded with yes, and if Fr. George wasn't in the room and if I knew Fr. Brian a bit better would have shot back a hair comment to bald man. Fr. Brian like Fr. Kevin takes the time to see what's going on. He'll remind me that he's praying for whatever I need. Fr. Brian reminds of why I like St. Therese, said, "if only I was a boy, then my vocation would be easy, I'd be a priest." Fr. Brian is one of the many good guys out there and I hope we get to hang on to him for awhile at St. A's, we need him.