Ministry of Presence

I left out something very important that occurred during my last spiritual direction meeting with Fr. Mark. I got on the discussion of how much I enjoyed giving the Eucharist to those in the hospital on Saturday's. I mentioned to him how much more important it has become to me in my life.  That's when Fr. Mark said it's all about the Ministry of Presence. We need to just be there for someone, to touch them both physically and spiritually.  Hold their hands, listen to them, and just be a physical presence of Our Lord to them.

Last week I lost a very dear man that I truly loved. Romeo was my Boy Scout Leader, an inspiration, a man of Love, and faith. Romeo battled his demons, and showed everyone what can happen when you embrace your faith. He earned respect from everyone for his love of life and his true devotion to mankind. I attended his funeral on Friday and was touched by his daughter's stories about her Dad. One especially touched me where she said that a young man shared with her at the IGA how much Romeo influenced his life by being his Scout Leader. I cried believing that I was the one who told her that story. Today I met her at the Dollar store ( remember no coincidences ) and there she was. I just had to share my love for her Dad and just be there for her. I asked her about that story and she said it wasn't me, and then I said " Louise that story was not just Denis's story, or Mitch's, or just one young man, it was all our stories from a man who touched so many." Romeo was a man who was there for people,and who epitomized the Ministry of Presence. We talked for over an hour and I returned the gift her father shared with me. Jesus led me to be bold, to give, share, and just be there for someone. Again I received as much from this as I had given.

I pray that when the opportunity arrives for any one of you to be there for someone, you will seize the moment and be able to be there for someone.


Adieu mes Amis,

Mitch

A week off??? Yeah Right!

Well after kick starting our class last week we are all on break this week. So what do you do when you have a week off? Relax right? Well not quite. This is my schedule for the week. Last night I was supposed to go with Terry to do our taxes, well you probably saw that we got dumped on yesterday to the tune of about 15 inches of heavy wet snow. Yuk! I spent an hour and half cleaning my driveway while Terry was off having the taxes done.

So Tuesday will be a a relaxing night right? Actually it is. I will be heading to my favorite past time tonight, bowling. Unfortunately I was low man on my team and I will be keeping score and cheering on our team. We are in second place in this league and fourth place on Sunday.

Wednesday being Ash Wednesday I will be attending Mass and will be an extraordinary minister for this Mass. This is a break I really need. I get recharged by attending Mass and I am really looking forward to Lent this year. I have been using a prayer to keep myself in check, "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner! I'm sure some of you have heard of this and I'm really enjoying it.

Thursday night will be another good night, I will be attending a Knight's of Columbus meeting. Because they meet on class nights I haven't been able to attend too many of these, so I get a treat this week.

Finally, what will the weekend be like?  I'm wide open and I possibly may head down south to watch the boy's basketball finals for division III. Haven't firmed that one yet, and it all depends on what happens tonight. If we do make it, the south will be invaded by all Berlinites who are the best traveling fans next to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. I'm really not exaggerating this at all.

Well, a week off has opened up a few things that I Love to do.  I hope all of you are enjoying your week and let's prepare ourselves during this time of Lent.

Adieu mes Amis,


Mitch

Dealing with the ups and downs of the week.

 Thursday was one of those days where I was really up for going to class . I picked up Terry in Glen to make sure that she would be joining me for Christology class in Plymouth. Terry was taking a course on the elderly (her passion) and she wanted to make sure that I wasn't traveling alone. We had a great class with Fr. John. We discussed how our own perceptions and experiences filtered our relationship with Jesus. The truly human and divine person of Jesus. Our final discussion dealt with ascending or descending Christology. My life, my experiences lead me to a descending Christology, but I find myself morphing into a little bit of both. My life as a Catholic in a very small community based life at Guardian Angel guided me to the point that I have been in my life, and now as my journey in faith continues I am growing, changing, and my relationship with Jesus is not the same.  Obviously this was such a great class to be in.

Last night I participated in the Whole Community Catechises and we were doing the Stations of the Cross. I was asked to do the first station, The Agony in the Garden. I felt it tied in very well with our Christology class. The fully human and divine Jesus that endured all of our pains and understands our sufferings. We discussed how we have become a world that avoids pain and suffering, and we are becoming literally numb to pain. You know what was the best part of both my class on Thursday and last night? Being with people I Love and have so much to share with.

I topped off the night spending time with my best friend at the Millyard last night. We had a few appetizers and some beer and best of all we were able to just relax and have fun together. We met so many people who talked to us and there it was again, just being in the presence of people I love and care for.

The downs for the week? Only one! Thursday night we were over 20 below zero! Yuk!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Adieu mes Amis,

Mitch

No more lonely rides home!

Today, Terry and I received some wonderful news. Pat Gabree called Terry and told her that she would be welcomed to join me, Tom,Steve & Linda at our classes in Plymouth. Terry has been worrying about my long trips home and asked if they would consider her joining the classes. Steve and Linda (thank you) put in a plug to get the ok. So officially tomorrow begins the joint venture we will be sharing with our group. I know that she will like the classes and we will have another opportunity to share together. Tom, you will have to bring an extra plate for supper tomorrow night! (Pizza is always on our menu!)

Christology begins tomorrow night and once again I can't wait. I sent in my final paper for New Testament on Sunday, and started to dive into the reading portion. I looked at the author of the book and saw Matthias Neuman OSB. Hmm, OSB I wondered if he was from St. Meinrad, and I thought he might have been a classmate of mine when I attended college there. It turns out, I was only half right. Yes he was from St. Meinrad and no he wasn't a former classmate of mine. Anyways the Catechism and the book were very good so far. Maybe, just maybe I'm beginning to enjoy reading books again. Well, the Christology book is not very large and it is definitely easy reading.

Good luck to all you taking the classes and rest assured I will still be thinking of all you on my journeys back home. I'm pretty sure that the radio will stay off on the way home, I'm getting used to not have those distractions in my life.

Take Care & Adieu mes Amis!

Mitch

Looking for Direction and finding Hope!

I finally got a chance to meet again with my Spiritual Director Fr. Mark. He is such a busy Priest and I wanted to get some time in with him before lent. We opened up with a statement that he made...."I heard that you were on a high from your retreat!" I smiled and said "you bet!" I guess the enthusiasm is pouring out of me, as I'm sure someone that I shared the information with, passed it on to him. These last two formation weekends are just what we all need to continue on our journey together. So much of what we discussed Fr. Mark reinforced in me. We talked of balance in life and he felt I was going in the right direction in that respect. One thing that came out of our discussion was Hope! Fr. commented that the people of Berlin are a people of hope. He mentioned an elderly woman came up to him and thanked him for his ministry. She told him that Our Lord has always provided Berlin with very good priests, including him, and that she believed that God would always continue to provide us with good priests. Fr. Mark reminded me that Berlin has always been the strongest community with vocations to the priesthood.  I left with that word ringing in my heart, HOPE! We are and must continue to be a people of Hope and Light!

I pray that we all become like this woman, a people of Hope!


Adieu mes Amis,

Mitch

Letters

I have been beating myself up for over a week now trying to figure out what I will be writing my final reflection paper on for the New Testament course. I don't think at any time in my life I spent so much time just reflecting on what to write about. It really should be easy right? Well I could go on and on about the wonderful, and inspiring things I learned from this course. I pretty much knew from the start that it would be something about St. Paul. I think his letters have always had some message that caught my attention.

So as the title of this latest episode on my blog states, I will be writing about letters. Before the advent of the computer a letter was always something to be treasured and the audience always got excited about reading one. I remember my days in Indiana at St. Meinrad, when a simple little letter from either a family member or friend would brighten even the cloudiest day. I fondly remember the excitement, and anticipation I would experience when I would go to the school's mail room and check my box to see if this was the lucky day.

The same feeling came about in July of 2010. I was forever checking out the mailbox, to see if the letter had arrived. Each day brought about a little frustration and disappointment until that eventful day. Terry and I were on a camping trip and I even asked my buddy to check the box and unfortunately it didn't arrive yet. I even tried to tell myself it's no big deal, don't worry about it. I gave up looking and when we returned from our trip, I just couldn't wait and had to check the box. There it was the letter I had been waiting for. I opened it up and the answer was exactly what I was looking for, acceptance as an Aspirant for the Diocese. A simple little letter that brought about so much emotion inside of me. I still keep the letter and treasure it with great pride and humility.

Looking back I can only imagine that the early Christians who anticipated and eagerly looked forward to a letter from St. Paul were sharing the same emotions that I was feeling. Someone whom they loved and respected was sending them a letter just because he loved them and wanted to share the Good News with them. A simple little way of communicating hasn't lost at all the opportunity to impact someones life.  The ideas are flowing and the words will soon be put on paper and eventually to my computer. I will wrap up this project by Saturday, and prepare for the next class Christology.

Good luck to all my brother Aspirants.

Adieu mes Amis,

Mitch

Distractions!

Distractions, a simple little word that has been an important part of our lives as Aspirants lately. This past weekend Br. Jack asked us, "Are you distracted yet?" Our lives are full of distractions some we can turn off and obviously many that we just need to deal with. I happened to be reviewing the blog I published prior to our formation weekend, and ironically I jotted down that I turned off the radio to avoid distractions on my trip home. Wow, did I just get an Epiphany or what? A little late coming to me but I guess that's how it can work sometimes. I'm finding out a little more how to filter out the distractions that I have control over, and really enjoying quiet time all over again. Hopefully dealing with distractions will open up the three Epiphanies I should be enjoying every day.

I'll share one that occurred to me yesterday. My daughter called me yesterday and talked about how people can be so rude and totally preoccupied with their lives. Danielle works at a food service company and she mentions that the part of her job she hates is how most of the customers are just indifferent, and seem to be uncaring. She then was excited to tell me of an incident that really inspired her. She was so nice to a customer that, the customer asked someone else who she was, and gave her a nice compliment. The following day that person called her by name and it startled Danielle at first and then she explained the whole situation to Danielle. My daughter was so moved by this that she was really excited to share this with me. What an Epiphany! Being nice, friendly, and smiling can change our little corner of the world. Today I pray that you all may be open to experience an Epiphany or create one for someone today!

God Bless you all and shower you with an abundance of Love and at least one Epiphany!

Adieu mes Amis,

Mitch