On Tuesday night, we concluded our retreat, Living the Eucharist: Circle of Life. We reviewed the four previous movements of the Gathering, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Sending Forth. Then we focused on the challenges that come from these sessions especially in light of the pandemic and the isolation it has caused so many to experience in a deep way. We noted how difficult this time away from community has been and the impact on the Eucharist that it has had on our community. We talked about the challenge to continue to serve those who are homebound and those who still feel constricted by the COVID, especially young families. Then we acknowledged the challenge to spread the joy to all in the community and beyond. The reality is that with so many people to reach with the gospel, we could never have enough staff to minister to all those in need of service. We need every member of the community to contribute to the work of ministry to spread the joy of the gospel. I gave an example to illustrate this challenge.
When I was a young boy growing in my family of 12 children, my mother cooked the main meal of the day at 12 noon and we all came home from school to eat dinner at 12:30pm. With so many mouths to fill, every plate was portioned carefully and we ate only what was given to us. However, my mother made a huge bucket of soup and we could take as much soup as we wanted.
One day, my view of that soup changed forever and I will never forget it. Once I was sick and I had to stay at home for a few days to recover. Before I was able to return to school and while I was still recovering, I helped my mother prepare the dinner while everyone went to school. As soon as all my brothers left for school in the morning, my mother started preparing dinner. She slaved in the kitchen until everyone ran in, ate the meal and ran back to school.
My mother invited me to help prepare dinner and she gave me carrots to peel. I had never peeled carrots before and so I was very slow. It took me literally hours to peel and cut three pounds of carrots for the soup. In that soup there was potatoes, cauliflower, onions, chicken and lots of other stuff; I wondered where all the carrots went! But when that soup arrived on the table it was CARROT soup to me. Indeed it was MY carrot soup because I had put all those carrots into it.
Truth be told, one could hardly even taste the carrots but it did not matter, it was still MY CARROT SOUP. After that day, I never complained about the soup again. Some days, it was too salty, other days it was not salty enough! Some days, it had some chicken bones not strained out. It did not matter to me because I knew how much work went into that soup and I would always thank my mother for the delicious soup!
The same is true of our liturgy and indeed all our ministries here at St. Simon. We all need to do a little bit to make the “soup” of the liturgy. That way when we are not “doing our part” we can appreciate all the work that goes into the making of the soup of the liturgy. We need more Eucharist ministers, Mass coordinators, musicians, cantors and every liturgical minister. In fact, we need more parishioners to sign up for just about every ministry, especially in the Finance Council and the Pastoral Council. I invite every parishioner to sign up for a ministry and make this parish their “CARROT SOUP!” Please watch the series online here. I challenge us to live the Eucharist and show how the “Circle of Life” can change our lives and every life of those around us.
I am delighted to announce that we will open up the Church and indeed all buildings back to “full participation” for all ministries. We will open up the Church itself to daily prayer in the chapel and restart our Eucharistic Adoration each Tuesday, 9am to 2pm. Please come and pray in the Church and before the Blessed Sacrament. See the article below with the details about how to engage more fully and sign up for a ministry again.
Also in anticipation of Thanksgiving, we will host another Wine & Word on Saturday, November 20 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. The theme will be Thanksgiving to honor the upcoming holiday weekend and to connect the Eucharist (our weekly thanksgiving feast) into our daily lives. This time we will feature Testarossa wine and we welcome Rob Jensen, parishioner and owner of Testarossa Winery as a special guest. Please join Christine Moore and I as we banter back and forth about the gift of family, friends, country and faith while introducing you to some new wines. Please read more about it below.
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan