According to the story told about Mother Teresa, St. Teresa of Calcutta, she was in a meeting with her order, the Sisters of Charity in Calcutta, India. One of the sisters asked her, “Mother, I have a request for you to consider. There are so many sick and dying people coming to our hospital and we barely have time to take care of them. Our Rule of Life requires that we spend one hour a day in prayer and meditation in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament in a Holy Hour. Would you please consider making that requirement optional, so we can decide when we can do it? There are so many people sometimes that we simply do not have the time every day to make our Holy Hour.” (In a Holy Hour, the Blessed Sacrament is placed in a monstrance on the Altar so people can pray in silence before the Lord.) As the story goes, Mother Teresa responded something like this, “Sister, allow me to think about your request.”
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First Parish Mass – St. John the Evangelist
I am in love. Deeply, madly, shamelessly in love.
I recognize the symptoms because I have fallen in love before. I have loved a woman. I was married for 37 years to Cynthia and we have six children. This past weekend I could not be with you because I traveled to baptize our twelfth grandchild. I lost Cynthia a few years ago due to Cancer.
On Confession
My grandson Gabriel made his First Communion a few weeks ago, just prior to my ordination. Gabriel was going to Confession before his First Communion when he said, “Granddad, just think, if you were already a priest you could hear my Confession.” That caught me off guard, but I told him, “Gabe, I want to be your Granddad. It’s better for you to go to another priest.”
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