Once I attended a Mass where the priest didn’t read the Gospel - he proclaimed it, speaking the entire text from memory. At the end of Mass I could not help myself, and as he returned to the sacristy after greeting the exiting worshipers, I boldly ran up to him, stopping him abruptly. I asked: “Who are you and how do you do that?” He answered in a friendly manner: “I’m Pat Malone and I live in the Word.”
As I got to know Fr. Malone, I realized there was a compelling nature both to him and to his preaching. He invited us into the reality of life: joys and sufferings. But most of all he invited us to “bless the world.” He shined a light on the path we, as Christians, are meant to follow through acts of mercy and kindness.
Recently I have heard several other priests at different Masses approach the living of the Christian life differently. It shocked me. Their emphasis was on “getting to heaven.” This was their only advice to how to live the Christian life. Directives such as. “Be holy - that’s the only thing you need to be,” and “Where are you in the stages of prayer? How advanced are you in the spiritual life?” It seemed to foster a self-centered approach. What about all those others around us? What about the suffering, the starving, the bombed in wars, the homeless? The lonely, the elderly? The sick? The migrant?
Getting to heaven might be the last thing on our minds if we are immersed in care for others. Heaven will take care of itself.
We strive to live in the Word.
Suzanne Braddock
Creighton University and I are old friends, first as a medical resident in a program shared with The University of Nebraska then forty plus years as a parishioner at St John’s, the campus church. Now retired from a gratifying but busy medical practice I enjoy the quiet hours and nature.
Writing these reflections is a challenge and a grace, bringing me closer to the meaning of the Scriptures and the love God wants us to understand.
