As many of you know, this past week marked the yearly occasions of Halloween and All Saints' Day. This week began with a reflection from a visiting priest that I heard last week. He shared a story with us about a girl whom he had met in his days as a missionary. This girl, who had been sold into a life of prostitution for 14 years in Haiti, said upon her rescue that "we should not tell God how big our problems are, but rather, we should tell our problems how big God is." Now, situations like this girl's are hard for many of us to comprehend, but we can see in her saintliness a path of faith that is accessible to all of us.
As Halloween approached, I made sure to share with my students that the history of Halloween simply includes preparing ourselves to celebrate All Saints' Day. Halloween is simply an older English word for Hallow's eve (the evening before honoring all holy people). With this understanding, I turn my thoughts toward our school-wide mass on All Saints' Day. First of all, at my school, rarely do we refer to our masses as such. Rather, those Eucharistic gatherings are called "school-wide liturgies". I mention this because when we understand that the meaning of the word "liturgy" refers to the "work of the people," the celebration of our school community makes a lot more sense. When trying to gather a total of 1300 people or so for mass, much work must come together to bring the Eucharist alive for all involved. A symphonic band, a men's chorus, acolytes, student ministers, lectors, and symbolic decorations are much of what must fall into place in order for the Eucharistic celebration to hopefully leave those in attendance feeling inspired to continue the work of the Spirit. At this particular liturgy, our celebrant, an ordained Brother of the Sacred Heart, challenged the congregation (mostly adolescent boys) to think of being holy as simply our attempt at being "whole". This simple message of always striving to be as "whole" or complete a person as can be is one that I believe the young men could relate to as they try to figure out who they are and what they are called to do. For the rest of us, this is a good reminder that being holy does not mean always doing everything right, but rather, just trying to be authentic versions of ourselves in all that we do.
How do we take a step toward being more (w)holy? One thing we can do is remember the words of the Haitian girl: don't tell God how big your problems are; tell your problems how big God is. By aiming to keep our lives in this kind of perspective, truly, we are closer to being holy authentic complete people.
May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.
As Halloween approached, I made sure to share with my students that the history of Halloween simply includes preparing ourselves to celebrate All Saints' Day. Halloween is simply an older English word for Hallow's eve (the evening before honoring all holy people). With this understanding, I turn my thoughts toward our school-wide mass on All Saints' Day. First of all, at my school, rarely do we refer to our masses as such. Rather, those Eucharistic gatherings are called "school-wide liturgies". I mention this because when we understand that the meaning of the word "liturgy" refers to the "work of the people," the celebration of our school community makes a lot more sense. When trying to gather a total of 1300 people or so for mass, much work must come together to bring the Eucharist alive for all involved. A symphonic band, a men's chorus, acolytes, student ministers, lectors, and symbolic decorations are much of what must fall into place in order for the Eucharistic celebration to hopefully leave those in attendance feeling inspired to continue the work of the Spirit. At this particular liturgy, our celebrant, an ordained Brother of the Sacred Heart, challenged the congregation (mostly adolescent boys) to think of being holy as simply our attempt at being "whole". This simple message of always striving to be as "whole" or complete a person as can be is one that I believe the young men could relate to as they try to figure out who they are and what they are called to do. For the rest of us, this is a good reminder that being holy does not mean always doing everything right, but rather, just trying to be authentic versions of ourselves in all that we do.
How do we take a step toward being more (w)holy? One thing we can do is remember the words of the Haitian girl: don't tell God how big your problems are; tell your problems how big God is. By aiming to keep our lives in this kind of perspective, truly, we are closer to being holy authentic complete people.
May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.
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