As much as
we have two months left as Cap Corps Volunteers, things are starting to wrap up
for us at the Red House. We can count the number of retreats we have left on
one hand, and are beginning to save all the talks we wrote this
year for the edification of future CCVs. The process of wrapping things up and tying off loose ends has begun, and
perhaps the saddest part of that process is saying goodbye to
our God’s TYM groups.
There are a lot of pieces that go into that process. Of course it means getting things organized for the ever epic God’s TYM Olympics, planning the last meeting, and slowly learning to let go of a community you’ve come to love so much. It also means sitting down, reflecting on the year and typing out an evaluation of your time with God's TYM. So as I sit here filling out this form, writing notes to the future CCVs who will serve at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Mahopac, I can't help but think of all the amazing people I met and the great things I got to be a part of this year. And so I thought I’d share my top three moments of God’s TYM in this the year of Our Lord 2015.
#3 The Passion Play
Preparing for the Passion Play had its share of interesting moments. For instance, it was convenient that we could use Julie's iphone to play "New Again," but we found a glitch in the system when Julie's phone announced that she'd received seven text messages over the church's sound system. Then there was the issue of taking Jesus (played by Frangelico) down from the cross. True to his role, as soon as his hands were freed from the ropes on the cross, Jelly was dead weight and free falling from the cross. Unfortunately for him, there was some question as to whether the people designated to catch him actually wanted to and I think Mrs. Fabiano's heart skipped a few beats on more than one occasion. (For added security, I was appointed as one of the pall bearers.) The next lesson we had to learn is that when one is carrying a person, the natural instinct is to get them as quickly from point A to point B as possible. But four guys running down the center aisle of the church with a dead Jesus just didn't evoke the mournful effect we were going for. Fortunately, Jelly's not that big a guy and so carrying him out wasn't too hard. CYFM's Jesus at Living Stations later that day was a different story...(ahem, Mike.)Even the costumes on the day of were a source of entertainment. We ran out of robes, so I threw on a black cassock instead. Then they handed me a head scarf; I wasn't sure exactly what to do with that so I tied it around my head like a bandanna. I was told I looked like a pirate priest, which I found funny until some guy in the narthax addressed me as "Father" and asked me a question about the parish...
The best part of all the prep work in March was that for once I wasn't running around trying to pull all the pieces together and was able to take time to get to know the youth group better. The people playing Jesus' followers had a lot of time to wait kneeling on the altar while Danny practiced nailing Jelly to the cross. So in the meantime, I got to find out where the seniors were going college, chatted about our favorite saints and told jokes which probably didn't match the solemnity that practicing for a Passion Play would usually merit.
When Palm Sunday came and it was time to present the play to the parish, everything went off beautifully. After Communion, Danny and Colleen dragged Jelly to the altar and nailed him to the cross. As Mary (played beautifully by Erin and Julie) knelt at the foot of the cross, we played a song in which Jesus comforts mother as he hung there dying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA20RW_VhSc It was a moving scene and I'll admit, even I shed a few tears (although they were manly tears.) We carried Jelly off the cross and into the narthax and even managed to do it without dropping him once. The youth group did a beautiful job and made Christ's passion more real for the parish. I think the parish and I hope the kids too, have a deeper appreciation for my how much Christ loved them to suffer so much. I have to admit, my chest swelled a bit when it was all said and done.
#2 Stump Joe
When I asked the group at the beginning of the year what sort of things they did before I got there, the first thing they mentioned was Stump Scotty. The
idea of the game was to ask Scotty Biggs (last year’s CCV at
To make it
more interesting, I instituted a point system. For every question I
could answer, I got a point. For every question I couldn’t answer, they got a
point. And because I was feeling cocky, I offered them an extra point if they
could correctly answer the question themselves. The stakes: if they won, I
would lobby before my fellow Cap Corps Volunteers for the Pie-a-CCV booth at Family
Festiva.
To my
credit, I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to get within a year of
the date when Vatican City
was founded. And I came within one book of guessing which was the 11th
book of the Bible. But I didn’t know where in the world St. Sophia was from,
couldn’t list the ten commandments, and I although I could answer whether or
not Jesus would eat at Wendy’s if He had the chance, I got schooled.
The game
was fun, but the highlight came at the end, after I had
already resigned myself to my fate and the questions were no longer for
points. We had some extra time, so I opened the floor for whatever questions they wanted to ask, with the proviso that they be more "why" questions than "what" or "when." Having taught in a classroom, I know that that's a dangerous move. Half the time when I did that, I wound up sitting listening to the crickets chirp while the kids stared at their desks and pretended to be invisible. But that's not what happened this day. The kids started asking questions, and good ones too. Although we spent more time talking about canonical impediments to marriage than I would have anticipated, their interest and engagement showed a level of investment in their faith that impressed me. I hope they never forget that for whatever question they think up, there's always an answer. It's just a question of finding it.
As fate
would have it, my fellow Cap Corps Volunteers decided not to run the Pie-A-CCV
booth at Family Festiva. Well, all except for one. Megan heard about the bet
and made sure that there would be at least one pie reserved for my face…
#1 Adoration
Those who know me, know
how much the Eucharist means to me. At the beginning of the year we were asked to answer the question, "This year will be successful if I..." and I answered, "Help one person to encounter Christ in the Eucharist." So I knew from the beginning of the year, I
wanted to spend at least one night focused on the real presence of Christ in
the Blessed Sacrament. Still, when I finally decided to do it, I wasn’t sure how it
would go because I was venturing into unchartered territory. I decided if we
were talking about the real presence, it only made sense that the group should have
a chance to encounter His presence themselves. Recognizing Christ in the
Eucharist requires abandoning your senses and looking with the eyes of faith; just being told He is there isn’t enough for that. I decided to model this Holy Half Hour after what I'd seen done at Catholic Underground. The plan was to write a meditation on the presence of Christ right before you, exposed in the Blessed Sacrament. Then I would intersperse it with praise and worship music so that hearts as well as minds might be moved and allow Him to enter. So I called a friend from Fordham and we started organizing praise and worship music.
Sitting behind the piano, things
were interesting. John and I hadn’t rehearsed together, so there was a lot of
whispering under our breath going on. “Go
to the chorus!” “Slow down, you’re reading too fast!” “Do I take the repeat or
not?!” It was an act of faith to trust that somehow Christ’s grace was
working despite the Laurel and Hardy act that was going on behind the scenes.
And yet when adoration finished and Fr. Patrick had placed Christ back in the
tabernacle, no one moved to leave. For several minutes a pregnant silence hung
about the chapel and they just knelt and prayed. It’s not that they weren’t
invited to head back to the convent; I'm pretty sure I even mentioned that there was leftover food back there. For five minutes, everyone was still. I don’t know, but I suspect they did
encounter Christ truly present before them and wanted to stay with Him. If that happened, my whole purpose for
being a CCV was accomplished.
Those are
my top three memories from St. John’s
that I will take with me as I move on from CYFM. Of course there are many more
I’m not listing here, like the Breakfast Run, the Christmas Party and the Rosary Procession we did in December. Of course the greatest gift I've been given has been the people I've been privileged to meet this year. This has been one of the finest groups of kids I've ever met. They're full of joy, hardworking and all in all willing to go deeper in their faith. The parents that support the group are truly amazing. From providing snacks for after the meeting to getting up at 4 AM to help with the Breakfast Run, they've been there every step of the way. Lastly the priests at St. John's have been a great blessing to have around. Particular thanks goes out to Fr. Patrick for support of the youth group and for bringing a sense of humor with him. God has blessed me deeply by allowing me to be part of such a community. Whichever CCV gets these notes I'm leaving them will soon find out just how privileged they are.
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