OK, I know it has been more than a week….
I know that I said in my last post that I would be away for a week on retreat. That was more than two weeks ago.
The retreat was wonderful. It was the third time that I attended the Communion and Liberation Priest Retreat. This was the largest retreat yet; about 50 priests, including the Archbishop of Ottawa. The theme of these retreats are that to be effective priests, one must first have to embrace one’s humanity. It was a wonderful time to regenerate myself as a man and as a priest.
Of course I hit the ground running when I got back to the parish; I had a wedding rehearsal and a couple of people waiting to be anointed. Last Sunday (well, actually two Sundays ago) was Mercy Sunday. We have a remarkable woman in our parish who escaped slavery in Siberia, and then walked first to Israel and then to England before making her way to the USA. She is Polish, and naturally has a great devotion to St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy. She donated an image of Divine Mercy to the parish, and during the hour of Mercy on Mercy Sunday I solemnly blessed the image and led the people in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. We had about 75 people there, which was great.
Last week was very busy with meetings almost every night. Last Friday my Mother and I flew to St. Louis, MO to visit my sister Ann, her husband Kevin and their four children. Their third child, Deirdre, made her First Holy Communion on Saturday, and since I gave first Communion to her older brother and sister, she wanted me to give her first Holy Communion too, which I did. It was a very nice ceremony. Mom and I are visiting here until Thursday, when we fly home. This coming Saturday, my other sister, Jennifer’s, daughter, Moira, is also making First Holy Communion, and I am her godfather, so I need to be there for that too. She is close to my parish; only about 75 minutes away.
After these two Holy Communions I thought I only had one more left; Ann’s youngest Declan. However, Ann and Kevin told the family this evening that they are 8 weeks pregnant. Of course we are all very happy, but also a little concerned. First, Ann is 43, so more of a risk for miscarriage. Also, Ann had a brain tumor removed last year. It was benign, but it is the kind of tumor that the hormones shifts in a pregnancy can cause to grow. They could not take all of Ann’s tumor out last year. She had not had a migraine since the tumor was removed until 10 days ago. Since then she has had a total of 5 migraines. In addition to the normal prenatal care, she also needs to go for a MRI to see if the remanent of the tumor is growing. Please keep her in your prayers.
St. Gianna pray for us.
