A few weeks ago I noticed there were real nuns at Mass and excitedly told my Dad. By real nuns I mean those wearing habits. That's how I knew they were nuns. Then there were the Knights of Columbus in their regalia. And I noticed men in clerical garb in the front rows. You see, it was a special occasion. A young man from my very own parish was ordained a deacon (student priest), and was celebrating his first Mass in this capacity.
The Mass was concelebrated with our pastor and a young priest from Connecticut. The young priest was a friend of the deacon and flew out to celebrate with the deacon. That's very special, and what a great friend.
I just kept thinking what a happy occasion this was. In fact I was thinking there should be a party afterwards. Guess what! Our pastor announced that there was a reception afterwards and all are invited!
After Mass Dad and I went to the church hall for snacks. I was happy to congratulate this young man. It's so important to support seminarians. I told him he's courageous to answer The Call. I also thanked him as a regular Catholic pew person for choosing to serve us.
I also met the other seminarians at the reception. I found them to be intelligent, friendly, good-natured, and fun young men. What did we talk about? Microsoft Word upgrades was one topic. One of them had a 15-page paper due the next week. I was wondering if seminarians centuries ago had to write their papers in ink in calligraphy!
I like the way these young men teased each other like they were brothers or close friends.
I have hope for the future of the church with these guys in the priestly pipeline. It made me happy to meet them.
2 comments:
Like you, I also am amazed to see nuns in their habits! Amazing! In the diocese where I was raised, this is traditional & very normal. But where I live now, there was one (yes, just one!) nun at our parish, and if you didn't know much about the Catholic Church or nuns (like my DH), then one would never guess she was a nun! She wore no habit. She wore normal-ish clothes. And a cross.
I am frustrated when those who commit their lives to Christ & his Church don't want to dress as though they profess their faith. So very frustrating.
I am very encouraged by the seminarians! That is GREAT!!!
I like this post.
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