Like a gasp of air...

What is it that lures us to the things of this world? What is it that lures us to what we know will only fill us up so much, and then leave us empty wanting more? What is it that lures us to the things that we know will keep us from being intimate with our God?

Entertain this thought, given by Fr Joe Krafft of the Archdiocese of New Orleans: a man sticks his head into a bucket of water for an amount of time, and then pulls it out gasping for air. Now imagine the immensity of that gasp for air. What if we could long for God with the immensity of a desperate gasp for air? We are all desperate for God, for that which is eternal and filling. Why can’t we long for Him like we can for air?

Mark 4:35-40 gives us the story of the Apostles going out in a boat with Jesus. Jesus falls asleep and a storm begins. The Apostles become scared and wake up Jesus, saying, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” But when Jesus wakes up, he calms the storm, looks at them, and asks, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” God is there at all times, with us, waiting to calm every single one of our storms. When he washed the feet of the Apostles, he showed that he will clean even the most disgusting of our troubles. Put simply, God will get as intimate with us as we let him. We just have to make room and let him in.

“Be not afraid.”

We are always linked through Christ!

It wasn’t until Sunday night that I finally felt a part of the Notre Dame Seminary Community. The whole week before was a slow one, trying to get through numerous conferences and meetings on seminary life. Granted, I am in a different seminary, but at the same time, I have been in formation for the priesthood for the last two years, so I have an idea of what seminary life is like. Much of what we have gone over has been repetitious for me. Also, hardly anyone was here when I moved in. A large majority of the student population was not here. So it has been hard waiting for life in the building to pick up as the returning student body slowly trickled in this week. But by Mass on Sunday evening, everyone had made it back and we had our first communal celebration together, celebrating the Eucharist.

This reminded me of Fr Geoff and his saying, “See you in the Eucharist”. All week, I was missing my friends from this summer as well as from St Ben’s. It just isn’t the same without Brent or JohnJohn to yell at through the wall. But change comes in life and we must deal with it without losing track of what we are called to be doing. So, what better time could I have actually found my friends than while praying the Liturgy of the Hours every morning and evening, as well as celebrating the Eucharist? No matter how far apart we are, we will always be linked through our prayer and through the Eucharist. As Catholics, we have the privilege of a uniform Mass celebrated all over the world, daily, with everyone receiving an equal amount of Christ. We may be physically apart, but spiritually we will always be one!