(July 10, 2016)
#MTLSHouT2016
MTL. Messengers of the Lord.
This was the theme/title for the week of SHouT a sort of throwback to when Montreal would identify themselves as this, just like GTA referring to themselves as God’s Truly Anointed.
For myself, this calling to being a messenger of the Lord became reality the very moment I stepped off the megabus.
Everything was in French.
Not a single lick of English anywhere. Even the store names were in French with only the store design/logo that was familiar to me. It was as if I was in a new country. Now just to note, I have been to Montreal plenty of times, but all those past times were during family trips or for conference where I was with others. On the other hand, I was by myself called to serve in an area where I wasn’t familiar with the people, the geography, and even the language. The affirmation I received from the first full day however, was when we went to daily Mass as a SHouT house.
Prior to going to Mass I was telling Ate Ellen, my counterpart for the SHouT, “let’s go to an English Mass so I could understand.” Without telling me or confirming whether it was an English Mass, we went to the nearby parish and as the Mass began…..”Au nom du père du fils et du saint Esprit” — it’s in French.
Throughout the Mass, I could only understand certain french verbs while responding in English throughout the Mass. The beautiful part of it all was that there was also Adoration after Mass. Once again all in French, but with the hymns “O Salutaris Hostia” and “Tantum Ergo” still in Latin.
There was two things I got from this. One was that I still have so much to learn about God. No matter how long we’ve been a practicing Catholic or how long we’ve been in the community, there is still so much to learn of our God. In my head, I kept recalling, “I still have yet to know of the Lord in French.” The second thing was the affirmation that we are part of one Catholic and Apostolic Church. Catholic meaning ‘universal’, thus by being a part of this universal Church we are all called to the same mission: to share God’s message to whomever and wherever we go. At the end of Mass the priest says, “GO in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” In that very message, we are ALL called to be the messengers of the Lord. Therefore no matter who we are, where we are, we spread the message of God.
Part 2.
AMDG