What a wonderful day I had. At 9:00am we had a service for about 65 second graders who made their first Confessions. Fr. John gave a great talk about the Good Shepherd leaving the 99 to go looking for the one lost sheep. He had the kids up sitting in the sanctuary and their answers to his questions were so delightful. His point was that Jesus told that story because God is like the Good Shepherd and leaves the 99 to look for the 1. John asked them what do you think that says about God the Father. One little girl said, ” He likes each of us because we’re each important to him.” Oh, if only we never lost that confidence in God’s ever present and always faithful love of us!! I think I had about 15 children and each was holier than the next.
We had another service at 12:30 with another sixty some and they were just as energetic and enthusiastic. We had six priests available for individual confessions and the children were inspirational again. I was floating myself.
Then Joe Stoutz and his son Tim met me for lunch at Clyde’s. Joe had brought Tim’s car down to him and then took a bus back this evening. We had a nice visit and I learned about Tim’s job at CNN. He had been in Atlanta but just transferred back to DC.
Afterwards I had a lady come to see me who is having heart surgery next week, so we celebrated the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, another sacrament I love doing. Only bad thing was I didn’t realize I was scheduled for parish confessions at the same time. Fr. Jim covered for me as he often does!
I had the 5:30pm Mass and in my homily I talked about First Penance and asked the people to remember how great they felt at the time of their first confession and again I reminded them I am often in the office and available to celebrate the sacraments.
Of course, that isn’t quite true for the next two weeks. Actually I should be down at Maggie’s but since I haven’t packed yet, I’ll go down early in the morning because on Sunday, I will fly to Florida with Maggie and Marie. We will meet Pat Berry, Maureen and Rick at the Hyatt Hotel and then on Monday we will get on the Celebrity Cruise Ship, “Equinox” and go on an 11 night cruise through the Western Caribbean. We’ll be back on January 28th.
So I don’t know if I’ll be able to post messages for the next two weeks. Lots of ships have Internet, so I will try but it might not be every day – you know, Bingo, the hot tub, etc……. but you will be in my prayers and thoughts.
Safe travels! Sure hope you can squeeze in a few minutes in the Internet Cafe to keep us posted on the wonderful time you all are having.
Enjoy your vacation! Tell everyone to have a great time. See you when you return!