A Household for Fathers

Yesterday I went to mass at the same church I usually go to at 12:10pm. Just another normal day. After mass I spent a long time just writing in my journal. I looked up and it was around 1:20pm and I noticed that the altar was being set up for adoration. This was odd because at this parish they normally do not have adoration at this time.

I took it as a sign that I should stay for adoration. Such a good way to spend my time after the weekend being so #eventful. Little did I know how eventful the rest of my time at adoration would be.

After a few moments of seeing that the altar was being setup for adoration, I saw around 8 or 9 priests sitting in the pews… I thought to myself “what the heck is going on?” When the procession started I could not help but feel so humbled. To be adoring Christ alongside priests from the Archdiocese of Toronto.

After the opening prayers, the priest leading the procession sat behind a small desk beside the altar and he was just talking. He was sharing about some of meditations. And whenever he did he would always pull out a verse from the bible and expanded on his meditation.

This felt like a “Household for Fathers.” For those who do not know what a household is, it is a time of the month where members of Couples for Christ and it’s family ministries (Singles for Christ, CFC-Youth, etc.) meet to praise and worship God, and learn more about one’s faith through the experiences of the members of the household. This is what I experienced with these priests. A “household” usually consist of praise and worship, discussions and fellowship. The biggest difference was their praise and worship, discussions and fellowship was in the form of the Adoration, through the silence of their hearts, standing before God having a one on one with Him.

There were 2 topics that the head priest discussed. One was about lukewarmness. The other topic was about Mary & Joseph.

Regarding the topic of lukewarmness, the priest was sharing about the different struggles priests deal with. For priests to minister to the community they need stick true to their prayer time, like the liturgy of the hours. This also means to act when inspired by the Holy Spirit. This means to drop everything you are doing and do what you are called to. For example, using CFC-Youth experiences, if you know that there is an assembly coming up and there is some work that needs to be done, like making phone calls to household members, just do it!

Do not give in to laziness. When serving God in ministry work we need to keep busy. The more we keep busy, the more souls we encounter, the more responsibility we are given, leads to a bigger victory for God.

After this discussion, there was confession available for the priests. To see a priest enter a confessional just brought so much feels in my heart.

After confession the head priest came out again to discuss Mary & Joseph. The love that they have is something that we as Christians can turn to to really understand what love is. To understand love we must first understand the spirit of poverty (or detachment). Poverty in a sense is the detachment from our own desires and looking for what God desires. It is difficult to love poverty if you don’t love what it brings. When we live a life of poverty, it allows for the Lord to work within us because living in poverty says that I need God and He is all that I need.

During my time in front of the Blessed Sacrament I could not help but ask the Lord “Why?” But I knew that to be surround with these priests I must humble myself and accept that I am being pastored right now like a “father”. Whenever the priest would refer the priests he would say stuff like “my fellow priests”. I could not help but feel so affirmed as an MV that the Lord is calling me to be a pastor within this family ministry of  CFC-Youth. In essence that is what we as lay people of the Catholic Church. Especially the men, that we are called to be priests wherever we are called to be.

I can say with great confidence that the Lord has been preparing me for a new chapter of my life. I believe that I am now prepared for what the Lord has for me. I am definitely called to love more.

Thank You Lord for these experiences. May your love for me and your people continue to grow as we grow closer to You. 

And with that may God be forever praised.