About Being Young Forever
4-year-old Serra in her youthful glory.
Welcome to Word for the Week, the series in which I:
share my experience of hearing God’s Word in Mass last weekend,
explore what I believe the Lord is calling me to do about that Word, and
ask how this Word might impact your life, as well.
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We attended Mass with a newly-ordained priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross last weekend. It was his first English-language Mass at our local parish. It was amazing to see his exuberance! The parishioners were also back in the Church sanctuary after celebrating Mass in a gymnasium for a year. The hopefulness was palpable!
The word that stood out to me immediately was, "renewed youthfulness." It was a line from the opening (collect) prayer at the start of Mass:
May your people exult for ever, O God,
in renewed youthfulness of spirit,
so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption,
we may look forward in confident hope
to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection.
During the course of the week, my kids modeled what a spirit of youthfulness looks like. God spoke to me through their example, especially when we went to a bonfire with the local Holy Cross priests and with Fr. Matt*.
My daughters kept asking if they could "see" everything:
-Can we see the back alley?
-Can we see the side yard?
-Could we see inside of the house?
Upon each request, one of the four priests would respond, "It's really not that exciting!" I grinned as the situation unfolded. I think the Fathers were trying to soften the blow, should the girls be disappointed. But as they acquiesced, each round of petition proved the contrary: it was all so very exciting through the eyes of a child.
At one point, the girls discovered an empty storage closet. They marveled in glee. The newly-ordained priest looked from the girls over to me. With a laugh, he voiced his agreement, "I suppose it is a great hideout!”
For me, it was a lesson in humility. You see, I am really passionate. (Surprise!) My enthusiasm for art and evangelization extends into everything I see. Everything is potential material about which to write, sing, and speak of God. However, I was bemoaning this trait of mine last week.
It’s exhausting to be so excited every day. To be always enraptured at the sight of nearby mountains, to feel enthralled by words of passing conversations, etc., etc. My fear last week was that the people who love me the most are sure to grow sick of my overabundant passion.
Through my daughters’ example, I felt the Holy Spirit affirm my own excitement anew. And even though my Word for the Week didn’t remedy all of my misgivings, it helped me to stay hopeful. By the end of the week, once again I could confidently say, “I feel like anything is possible!”
How about you? Are you feeling weary of the world, or even sick of yourself like I was? I’ll close with the words of Pope Francis in an exhortation to young people and to the entire Church. (I also commit to read the entire document before the month of May!) If you’d care to join me in reading, please let me know your thoughts!
With love and enthusiasm,
Amanda
“Let us ask the Lord to free the Church from those who would make her grow old, encase her in the past, hold her back or keep her at a standstill. But let us also ask him to free her from another temptation: that of thinking she is young because she accepts everything the world offers her, thinking that she is renewed because she sets her message aside and acts like everybody else. No! The Church is young when she is herself, when she receives ever anew the strength born of God’s word, the Eucharist, and the daily presence of Christ and the power of his Spirit in our lives. The Church is young when she shows herself capable of constantly returning to her source” - Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, 35
*We're grateful that Fr. Matt can be with his religious community when he comes to Phoenix to film our We Should Pray podcast!
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