We had a pretty busy weekend at the House of Brigid, which was a nice change of pace from the last few weekends!
On Saturday, Molly and I sang and played for a wedding at the Church. Of course the bride was beautiful and it was great fun seeing all of the formal attire, but the service itself was really nice, too! The presider was the bride’s uncle and the ceremony had a nice personal feel. And I got to sing one of my favorites, Panis Angelicus! But my favorite had to be the Allegro Maestoso written by Handel and played by Molly.
Right after the wedding we went down to Greenacres to attend a voice studio recital organized by our friend, Marketa. I really enjoyed hearing such a variety of voices and music, from folk songs to Broadway musical numbers to arias. And any excuse to go to Greenacres is fine by me!
After the recital we celebrated Pentecost at the Vigil Mass. We had the youth choir singing and I’m proud to say that they’ve gone from 1) hesitantly singing solos only in the pews or hidden behind a pole to 2) begrudgingly cantoring congregational songs to 3) singing the psalm from the ambo without complaint! I’m so sad that we only have one youth choir Mass left, but alas… all good things must come to an end be taken over by Mary, Joy, Ben, and Cameron!
Saturday night we spent most of the evening celebrating our friend, Wiebke, who is moving back home to Germany. Luckily, next year Emily and I will only be a short train-ride away, so it wasn’t goodbye…just see ya later!
Sunday morning we celebrated First Communion with Kennedy Park. The children were so beautifully dressed and you could tell they were so excited for their special day. We sang in the choir, but they didn’t need us; those kids really know what they’re doing! The two services were back-to-back with one class each. The Masses were so prayerful and the Spirit had definitely come down to be with all of us, which I guess you would expect, considering it was Pentecost. I’m sure that these children will not forget that day and we hope and pray that they will continue to develop a deep love and appreciation for the wonderful gift of the Eucharist!
After the Communions, we went to Ballyvaloo Centre for a minister’s retreat for everyone involved in various ministries at Clonard Church, which was my highlight of the weekend. It was an afternoon to reflect on our role as ministers and to hopefully be refreshed and renewed in our ministry. What better way to spend the afternoon on the Feast of Pentecost!
Fr. Chris Hayden was the speaker and he had countless insights into ministry, our Church community, and prayer. He told us that the 1st letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians is the most straight-forward of all the letters and that we could gain a lot as ministers by reading it. He spoke about the 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and St. Paul’s metaphor of the body:
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
This is something we talk about on our Confirmation retreats. We all have different talents and gifts and we are called to use them to glorify God! Fr. Denis made a good point that there are even less obvious parts of the body that are essential. (Where would we be without the ministry of the posterior?)
The meat of Fr. Hayden’s talk was about prayer. If we are communicating with God, how are we supposed to know if we’re doing His will?
An elephant was walking along in the jungle on a fine day and came across an ostrich nest. He was good friends with the ostrich who owned the nest, but she was nowhere in sight. With the mama ostrich gone, no one was there to keep those eggs warm and protect them from danger. The elephant saw an opportunity to minister. He did have some other things planned after his afternoon walk, but he would make time to protect those eggs until their mother returned. He made his way over to the nest, and purely out of love, he sat on the ostrich’s eggs.
The elephant in this story had the best intentions, but ended up doing more harm than good. Perhaps this wouldn’t have happened if he would’ve been in contact with the ostrich. Not that we don’t sometimes misread our instructions and make mistakes, but we NEED to be praying and communicating with the Head of the Body if we truly want to be Christ’s hands and feet. “It’s the thought that counts” is used as an excuse by many, including me. (I thought about working out today, does that count?) But in this case, I think it is partially true…
If your ‘thought’ is that you want to do God’s work, and you are making that clear by frequently communicating this to God… then I think we can expect Him to take care of the rest.
It is really comforting for me to remember that God is in control. I am merely a pencil in the Almighty’s hand. I will do my best to figure out what needs to be done and to work hard, but I will also depend on God to lead me in His will. If we’re leaving God out of it, then why are we ministers in a Church?
After Fr. Hayden spoke and we had a tea break, the four of us got to give a little testimony on our experiences in ministry. We spoke about how we got involved with ministry, what our experiences have been compared to our expectations, how we are sustained in our ministry, and where our ministry is leading us in the future. We closed with a lovely prayer service led by Sr. Mary, reflecting on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And I think it was a general consensus that the only thing we would change would be to have a bit more time. (And to have more of the music ministers there!)
Now that we’re all full of the Holy Spirit, we’re ready for our last Confirmation Retreat and some other fun stuff this week! Nick will tell you all about it later…
