Anointing of the Sick

As promised in my last post, here is one of the published pictures, courtesy of Patti Fersch, of Archbishop Emeritus Alex J. Brunett's visit to Christ Our Hope last Sunday for the Anointing of the Sick. Please continue to hold him in prayer!

The bulletin for this Third Sunday of Lent at Christ Our Hope includes a column from Fr. Paul of Archbishop Brunett's visit and on receiving God's mercy and going to confession (plus their schedule for the remainder of Lent).

Joyful service

In the words from Luke 12:42, today's Entrance Antiphon, "Behold, a faithful and prudent steward, whom the Lord set over his household."

These past few months have kept me in a daily routine of going into the office, a visit to grandma's house before a Zumba home workout and crashing on the couch at home eating my dinner by myself, since mom and Val work fairly late into the evening. Andrew describes these past few months in the office in his recent blog post. However, with all the happenings in the office, a couple of personal experiences helped remind me that it is in serving others that we will find deep joy.

Last Saturday was the last Rite of Election that I was scheduled to go to, which was at St. Charles Borromeo in Tacoma. As I was packing the worship aids into the van, I noticed a man sleeping outside the Chancery offices underneath two blankets, and next to him was a baby stroller of items. I remembered the scarf, hat and gloves I wore when I went to the Seahawks Super Bowl victory parade about a month ago which was still in a cabinet in my desk that I had tucked away. Taking just a few extra minutes, I went back to my desk to grab the scarf, hat and gloves and, not wanting to wake him up (mostly from fear), I set them on the cement ledge next to his stroller. Nothing could stop that joy I felt as I began the drive to Tacoma.

Just a day earlier, Fr. Paul had asked me to come to Christ our Hope to assist in their liturgy the following Sunday, as Archbishop Brunett was invited to come to their 9:30am Mass with Anointing of the Sick and Fr. Paul was hoping I could assist him as needed. Both Fr. Paul and I greeted him at the entrance, and he looked at me and kept saying my name. It was a joy to be of service to him as I helped put on his stole, held his hymnal as he followed along to everyone singing, and was present to him as needed during the Mass. It was a moving experience to stay with him and remain with him. I was almost in tears as he was being anointed by Fr. Paul. (Patti took some pictures, which I'll post once they are published online in Northwest Catholic along with an article on the Sacrament of the Anointing.)

After Mass, once Archbishop Brunett was in the cabulance and off to his new residence on Madison St & 22nd, a man selling Real Change came up to me and we engaged in a conversation about faith. Michael is his name. One thing I'll remember that summarizes my 15 minute conversation with Michael, is a question he asked me. "When you put Jesus first before others and then yourself last, what does that spell?" After a second thought, I told him it spells joy. We both continued to fill the narthex of the Josephinum with laughter and story-telling. After reflecting on this experience, I came to the realization that Michael's joy-filled laughter and personality reminds me a lot of my late father.

As we celebrate the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we continue to look to the intercession of St. Joseph to be faithful and prudent stewards, whom the Lord has set over his household to serve others with loving care.

Rally and Great Music

Last Saturday I was blessed to have had the opportunity to assist with the Taize prayer experience as part of the Junior High Rally, held at Archbishop Murphy High School, which gathered hundreds of grade school children from around the Archdiocese. We were expecting only about 40 of them at Taize, but that number quickly doubled at the last minute when the Stations of the Cross prayer experience was cancelled. We also had a San Damiano cross, a number of icons, and tons more tea lights and candles of all sizes that I didn't take a picture of.

 

Before the kids came into the theater, I asked for volunteers to say the intercessions. We had prayers for the Pope, the clergy, all gathered at Rally, youth ministers, all who teach and pass along the Catholic Faith, etc. which they just said from their place, and after each prayer when they said "We pray to the Lord" we all sang "O Lord Hear our Prayer". After we went through the prepared list of intercessions and we invited others to name the prayers they wished to pray for, the kids started raising their hands as if they were back in the classroom, instead of simply saying their petition they would like to pray for. I forgot that these were grade school children. They did find the repetitive chanting prayerful.

Mass followed. After making sure folks had everything they needed and such, I had to leave for Seattle.

John Michael and I went to St. James Cathedral for "Great Music for Great Cathedrals". For lack of a better word, it was a great experience of sound and color.

And just for fun, here's what happened at Rally during a break before lunch. I quickly took a picture before the stack of U-Haul boxes came tumbling down.