Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
The last few days have been full of endings and beginnings. Yesterday was the end of the Novemdiales, the traditional nine days of mourning following the funeral of a Pope. In the midst of these days, last Sunday our parish of Saint Patrick celebrated – is that the right word? – the Office for the Dead for the repose of the soul of Pope Benedict XVI. This took the form of solemn chanted vespers, led by our pastor Rev. David Mulholland and ably assisted by a choir led by Erica Minneman of Holy Cross and Amy Gallwas of Saint Patrick and Saint Nicholas. My beautiful bride Francine sang with the choir and served as Reader.
It was glorious.
As I’ve said before, it is in the sacred liturgy where I mostly closely feel the presence of the Lord, and the graces received that night will echo in many hearts for a long, long time.
Last night, we held our first quasi-monthly meeting for our altar servers and their parents. I talked about what it means to serve at the altar of the Lord, and what’s expected of servers. Then I laid out our altar server program: where we are, where we’re going, and how we plan on getting there. Laura Dougherty, our parish PAA, was invaluable in getting this thing launched, and I’m grateful for her wisdom, her advocacy, and her dedication to our Saint Patrick altar servers.
It went really well, and I was able to answer some questions that folks had over pizza following the presentation. I think some of our more nervous servers had some of their anxieties allayed.
In addition to the end of the Novemdiales, yesterday was also, according to my Benedictine breviary, the Octave day of the Epiphany. So on both calendars I follow, today is the first Saturday of Ordinary Time after Epiphany. A lot of weird additional bookmarks came out of my breviary this morning!
Somewhat after Lauds this morning, my beautiful bride Francine and I headed over to Saint Vincent De Paul Parish in Federal Way. And therein lies a tale.
About seven years ago, I applied for the formation program for permanent Deacons in the Archdiocese of Seattle. Indeed, a chunk of my blog musings from those days are about my discernment. My application was not successful – at the time I said I was “called but not chosen” – but I was told to consider applying again when the next opportunity came around.
Well, that time is now.
This morning we met for the second time with our discernment group, moderated by Deacon Juan Lezcano, OFS. There are some familiar faces in our group, including my friend Andrew Casad who, like me, applied the last go around.
So is the Lord calling me to the Diaconate? As I’ve said many times before, we cannot discern these things in a vacuum – that way lies madness – but we must discern them with and in the Church. The short answer is, I don’t know. I feel that tug, that call, but the strange certainty I had in my heart seven years ago is gone. What that portends, I don’t know, but I’m hoping the Lord provides some clarity over the course of the next year of inquiry.
Please pray for me, and for all those in discernment.
As the antiphon for this Sunday’s Responsorial Psalm says, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will”.