When we walked up to church, this halfway familiar priest greeted us and held the door open for us. I knew him from somewhere, but I couldn't put my finger on it. As he gave the homily, it all came back to me. He was a teacher at my elementary school before I was even born and joined the priesthood sometime after that. He had preached about missions here two years ago, and was back in town for the time capsule thing. Okay...the story was starting to sound a little familiar. I listened intently to his homily, especially the end. He finished with, "It's four minutes after five, and you are loved." BAM! I remember hearing that the last time I heard him preach, and I have loved it so much then. This time, it meant even more. The fact is that no matter what second of what minute of what hour of what day it is, I am loved. You are loved. We are all loved. All the time. I love it!
Yesterday was the Epiphany, but we don't celebrate it until the weekend masses. The Epiphany, for those of you who may have forgotten, signifies the visit of the Magi to sweet baby Jesus. Basically, this is how Jesus was revealed to those crazy old Gentiles. So today, the priest gave a homily on journeys. He started with the tale of his journey to find really good chocolate, so of course I was hooked. The message he finally got to was that no matter what, we need to continue our journey towards Christ. The Magi were very rich men who had everything the could possibly want, at least in an earthly sense. So why would they leave everything to go on this journey? It's simple - we are nothing without faith. Even if you don't consider yourself to be very Catholic or Christian or even a believer in God, you most probably believe in something more. It's kind of in our human nature. We want to know the unknown, even if it's scary. We are always reaching for something that is not palpable by our human touch, only by our hearts. It's an absolutely terrifying thought, for me at least, to think of giving up this life I have created for myself so far to go in search of a deeper faith. Still, it's something I really want to do. All I need is a little courage...right?
Another really good point the priest made was that even though the Magi faced many obstacles along the way, they never gave up. It's not like they hopped on a plane and flew to baby Jesus. So today, we need to remember that obstacles are put in our way every single day, and overcoming them makes reaching the finish line so much sweeter. Finish line is kind of the wrong term, but I've got running on my mind. You can figure out what I'm getting at. It's so freaking easy to let bad things get the best of us, but we've got to be better than that. It's okay to pause for a good cry, but at some point you've got to dry your eyes and remember whatever goal it is that you're trying to attain. Trust me, crying only makes you feel worse if you keep doing it over...and over....and over. If you ever feel like your life has no meaning, it's probably because you're not looking to make it meaningful. Duh.
It's times like these that I wish I was a better writer or just communicator in general. It's so frustrating to have so many thoughts in my head that I can't for the life of me translate into something understandable. Ugh! Anyway, I think I've confused myself and you enough for one evening. I'm going to end my 20th year on this earth with a few loads of laundry, packing, and a little reading. I live quite the life, don't I? I don't have any pictures for today, so I'll leave you with a picture that I guarantee will make you smile. Later!
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| Melt. My. Heart. |
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