Grateful for the Gate
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 had home church yet again last week.
We invited Fr. Matt—friend/Godfather/co-author—to proclaim the gospel and to preach us a homily over a video call. The kids were enraptured. They had lots of responses throughout his message. They shouted out “Yeah!” and “Uh huh!” many times, plus they answered all of the prompts that Fr. Matt included.
As we ended the video chat, 5-year-old Mercedes turned to my sister and said, “That was awesome!” And at the end of “home church,” the kids were able to tell me what they remembered about the message.
As I type this out, it sounds so picturesque. In the moment, it felt utterly exhausting. The kids were squirrelly, multiple timeouts happened, and getting everyone to sing together was a big feat. Thankfully, my Word for the Week was repeated verbatim in one reading so I easily grasped onto it: I am the gate. (John 10:9)
In his homily, Fr. Matt explained that Jesus describes himself as the Shepherd in the gospel. Yet, we also know Jesus as the Lamb of God. And then Jesus even refers to himself as “the gate.” In a nutshell, Fr. Matt explained, Jesus is everything we need.
As I asked the Lord what He wants me to do about this word, I got the distinct sense that I need to be grateful. (In fact, the gospel song “Be Grateful,” keeps replaying in my mind.) And I simultaneously realized that the time for home church has come to an end. It’s been a beautiful retreat at our home church for the past two months, but the season is changing.
Disclaimer: of course we will continue to be the domestic church!! And I’ve also been inspired to be grateful in a number of other ways this week. However, I believe the Lord is inviting me to receive the Eucharist again. I'm called to be grateful, right? Jesus is giving me His own sacrifice to offer back to him in thanksgiving.
Our parish is distributing communion on Sundays with many precautions. I can’t wait. I’m truly so grateful for this open door, er, open gate!
How are you finding ways to be grateful this week?
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