Nuns and Children

Vestments for Feast of St. Theresa of Avila.

St. Theresa, poised over the Nuns' choir, preaching.

Dear Friends and Family,

I am sitting down to write this at 8:45 PM, quite happy--even if a bit tired--after a full Sunday. In addition to the normal schedule of prayer, Masses, and Confessions, I had the joy this morning of hearing the first Confessions of three adults who are preparing to enter the Catholic Church.

Today's Gospel seemed especially appropriate: the parable of the King's wedding feast for His son. Those invited refused the invitation, so the King sends out servants to call in "whomever they shall find." The parallel text in Luke speaks of the blind, lame, etc., and St. Paul speaks of the lowly condition of most of the first Christians (see 1 Corinthians). A good reminder of the unmerited grace we have received, and a beautiful Gospel in light of those preparing to take the first steps toward that wedding banquet.

After Mass, they came one by one and knelt, with their right hand placed on the Gospels, to make their profession of faith. Almost all the congregation stayed to pray for them. And the Mass had a number of new families and individuals. It was a real joy to get to know some of them, and to look forward to getting to know the others. At about 3PM the gathering in the hall came to an end and I headed off to make a house-call. Coming in the door around 7:15 I had so much to be thankful for.

There were many other blessings during the week, but what came to mind especially was the child-like faith and simplicity of little children and of contemplative nuns. Both live normally on a different level from the storms of this world. This afternoon I spent some time stacking legos with two little boys and their parents. They also wanted to show me their "priest costumes" and how they played at Mass. It was wonderful to see. I tried to help the older one learn the proper gestures surrounding the consecration and elevation, and he did a pretty good job. Earlier this week I taught four children preparing for their First Holy Communion. They are learning well and it was a joy seeing their progress, and then this morning talking with them after Mass--during breakfast--about such important topics as which type of cereal they had. At first, I thought two of them preferred rice crispies and that another preferred the sweet cereal that looked like little chocolate chip cookies. But a mother explained to me that the two had rice-crispies because that had not been so well-behaved during Mass ...

It was a real joy to be with them. May Jesus and Mary watch over each of you and your families. And may They grant you some share of child-like faith and simplicity.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari