Tag Archives: adoration

Adoration, and Podcasts, and Gin

A quick post tonight… It’s Friday night. I just found out that my parish abruptly cancelled all-night Adoration. That’s sad. Since I started making frequent Adoration part of my life, I have really come to look forward to the hour or so that my son and I get to spend in the presence of Our Lord. I think he likes that I take him to Jack in the Box at midnight right after we leave the church. But I also think he has taken to looking forward to seeing Our Lord. We pray five decades on our way to the church together. Then we pray the other ten during Adoration. We’ve been blessed to be able to bring others with us – friends of ours who might not otherwise go have made a habit of the first and third Friday nights. But not tonight. Alas!

North American Martyrs Chapel (SSPX), Glens Falls, NY

In other news, this community is truly wonderful. By that I mean tha Trad community. I spoke today with a prominent tech adviser who gave me some excellent pointers on starting up my podcast. It’s coming, folks. And thanks to the advice I got today, it might even sound technically great! I have also received lots of great advice from readers through email. Thank you, thank you to all of you for your kind assistance.

Also, one of my good friends moved away suddenly this past week. It was necessary for him to do this. He got a great job offer. I don’t like that I won’t see him much anymore. We enjoyed hanging out, talking about the Church, and lifting weights (mostly in the form of weighted whiskey glasses). But, such is life. Another good friend came by this evening. In our conversation, as two grown men do on a Friday night after the a long week, we tossed back a few gin and tonics and my friend got a little “sentimental”. That’s guy code for he was sauced. Don’t worry, I drove him home. Happens to all of us once in a while. In his “sentimentality”, and I cannot recall for the life of me why this came up, he said, “You [me] have really lived through a lot of tragedy. How do you deal with it?” He was referring to the many deaths in my family from my early childhood through to the present. Hey, big families mean big deaths. I told him, “Look, it’s all part of the beauty of the life that God gives to each of us.” I didn’t want to get all philosophical on him. There’s nothing worse than trying to share one’s “wisdom” with one who is inebriated. It gets lost in several directions. But the reality is that God gives to each of us the life He gives to us. “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Lord!” Look, I don’t really know much else. But life is beautiful, that’s for sure. Treasure the people God has given you – your spouse, your children, your friends. Love them enough to correct them in their sins. Love them enough to laugh with them and cry with them. Love them enough to will their eternal happiness. I think that’s pretty good for a guy who’d just slammed the finest Dutch courage distilled in North Texas. Man, that stuff is good.*

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, pray for us!

*For those interested, I’m referring to Greenhouse Gin, distilled in Sherman, TX. Not to be confused with Greenalls which is distilled from the sewage-water of a nearby gin distillery. Cheers!

In Nomine Patris

A blessed Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

My Father’s Day was a blast. Started the day with early mass. Got a seat right up front with my wife and kids. My daughter made me breakfast. We went swimming. I grilled. My wife and kids gave me the most amazing gifts. I am truly thankful.

And I am thankful for something even more. I am thankful to God for sharing the gift of His Paternity with me. In making me a father, He placed it upon me to be the man who will teach my family about Him. He tasked me with representing Him to them. My children will come to know God through me if I do a good job. No pressure there. Half the time I can’t find my car keys but I am thankful. And humbled.

Speaking of Humility

After the merriment of today, celebrating with my offspring that I offsprung them, I get to take part in what has become one of the great joys of my life. My mother-in-law reminded me that our parish began a week of Adoration tonight. Everyone was pretty much in bed when I grabbed my keys (I did find them!) and headed towards the front door. My teenage son popped out of his room.

“Where are you going, Dad?” he asked.

“Adoration,” I replied.

“I’ll come with.”

No arguments here. On the drive I had a chat with him. He was a little vexed about his sister going out to breakfast in the morning with my sister who’s visiting us. He won’t be able to join due to a prior commitment. But who doesn’t enjoy a breakfast outing?

“I wouldn’t worry about it, son,” I said. “You get to do something far more wonderful.” Then I reminded him where we were going. “Our Lord is waiting right now for us. He knew that we would come to see Him. He’s known it since before there was a time to be remembered.” I thought about the gospel this morning. A man held a great feast and invited many. Everyone made excuses. Then he sent for the poor and lame. They came but still there was room. “Go into the highways and hedges and bring in those who are there!” he ordered.

Shrine of the Miraculous Medal, St. Catherine Laboure Church, Harrisburg, PA

Until recently I was the one who made excuses about Adoration. I need my rest. I have things to do. God wants me to tend to these other things.

I won’t judge anyone for saying the same things. But something became more serious for me when I began to understand the sacrifice Our Lord made even deeper than I had throughout my life. I came to understand It through the ancient mass, by the way. Notice a theme? I started reading more and praying more. And I started wanting to see Him more.

I’ll tell you what I told my boy.

“The Creator of the universe is waiting in that humble church for you and me to come spend a few moments with him. He’s giving us a chance to ask Him blessings and tell Him we’re sorry for our sins. He’s giving us to atone for our own sins and the sins of others – especially during this month. The proud have their pride. He waits veiled in humility. Don’t you think that at our judgments [his and my particular judgments] He’ll remember that He waited and no one came but us? And if these people we’re passing on this busy highway and in these fast food joints and whatnot; if they knew and understood what This was, they’d crawl over broken glass to join us?”

I can be eloquent on the fly.

But it’s all true. And it’s beautiful. And it’s good. It’s good for us to be here with Our Lord. I will tell Him that I pray His blessing on each of you reading this now and I hope you will pray for me.

He waited over 40 years for me to come spend time with Him. He waits for you too.

May the Heart of Jesus in the Most. Leased Sacrament be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, and in the hearts of all men, even until the end of time! Amen.