Resurrecting Chicago

World Youth

On Saturday,  June 1, twenty teenagers from our parish in Morris, will attend the Joliet Diocese’s annual Youth Day. Our deacon, who was there, told me all about last year’s special day where a thousand of our diocesan youth met for a similar youth day.

I asked Deacon Fred what was one thing he remembered most from last year’s get-together. “The faith of the kids,” he said.  “Picture a thousand young men and women reacting to the celebration of the Eucharist.  You could see the devotion in their faces.  I remember the priest processing up and down the aisles with the Eucharist in the monstrance held high. Some teens had tears running down their faces as the procession passed by.  You could see their faith!”

For many of those young people, the experience of seeing other Catholic kids and realizing that they were a part of a much bigger Church was a remembrance that would stay with them as they traveled back to their home parishes.

In the early 1990s, I was a pastor in a large parish in Las Vegas, which is not far from Denver.  I remember when Denver hosted the Catholic Church’s  World Youth Day in 1993. Somewhere around three-quarters of a million teens from across the U.S. showed up. Reporters from our country’s largest newspapers and TV networks were there, too.  They each were looking for a story and, of course, controversy was on their minds. So, the questions that they were asking the youth were similar to these:  “What do you think of the abortion controversy in your Church?” What do you think of the Church’s stand against women priests? What about the sexual abuse upheaval in the Church?

Sure, all those questions and their answers would help sell newspapers.  The reporters  by-lines would appear below the news that they reported as headlines.

When I would read these reports from the World Youth Day about abuse, or woman’s ordination or abortion I kept thinking: They are missing the story!  The real story here is why did upwards of a million young Catholics stand in the rain to celebrate Mass with John Paul II?

How could reporters and journalists stand among all these young people and fail to find the story?  They could not recognize the Catholic faith which was expressing itself in these young people who were raised in a secular American culture. They were blind to it –an awful thing to say about a reporter, but true. They just couldn’t see.

There will be a thousand Catholic young people at the Joliet Diocese Youth Day on June first.  The day will be filled with dynamic presentations, contemporary music and  culminate in  the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

I’ll bet the reporters who show up for secular newspapers will again miss the story and report on Church controversies, instead.  The young people, though, will find in one another a Catholic Faith and identity much bigger than they ever thought. At a similar event for teens that I attended, one awed teen told me after seeing other Catholic young people kneeling to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation: “I never knew what it was to be a Catholic. Now, I do!”

I am certain our young people will return to our parish with a deeper sense of their Catholic Faith and in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. So what if the TV stations report on Catholic controversies, our young people will come back with the real story. You’ll see it in their faces.

I rarely go to Starbucks or any fast food joint because I can make stuff at home cheaper and often better.  However, this morning I thought I’d grab a coffee and danish at Starbucks and go sit in the park on this misty morning where every tree and verdant bush will be presenting a deep green, lush face to the rest of my day.

So, I drive up to Starbucks, place my order and move up to the service window.  A pert young woman slides the window open and I reach out to tap her credit card machine with my card.  She’s holding the unit out towards me.  I’m tapping once, twice  –nada.  She raps out some indistinct words which she has to repeat as she retracts the unit. “You have to indicate your tip first,” she says.

“Wha-a-at?” “You have to check the tip box on the unit and then the card will work,” she repeats. I’m stuck.  I tell her to put two bucks on the bill.  She does.  The card works. I’m into this snack at Starbuck’s  for $9.00 now: $7.00 for a medium coffee and flimsy cheese danish and the darn tip. Can McDonald’s be far behind? Even Burger King?  Good Grief! Not Panda Express, I hope.

The custom of giving at tip used to be almost voluntary and involved the strong hint of a gift. A tip used to be like a “thank you” but now at Starbucks it is required –unless you want to outright refuse to do it. I can see me at Starbucks, receiving my coffee and saying. “Just press the ‘no tip” today.” It ain’t going to happen because I’m not going back there again.

I just thought of something. I wonder if somehow we priests could indicate that a tip would be appreciated.  Then, when people leave Mass they could each hand father a few bucks for celebrating Sunday Mass. Another option would be to add a box on the church envelope for the tip. Of course, if the homily was tedious or obviously unprepared, the parishioner could leave the space blank or put a zero there.

If “tip” means “to insure prompt service” or “to indicate pleasure” at the service. why shouldn’t the servant of the Gospel receive a tip for his service? But, back to Starbucks.

“Thank you,” should be enough of a gratuity for most services. People agree to work for a salary and so do fast-food workers, even Starbuck’s workers. If I want to tip someone, let me do it, but don’t force me.

“Sing a new song unto the Lord.” (Psalm 96:1) The song could be a new lyric to an old melody or new lyrics and a new melody, but God wants us to sing a fresh tune, not the same old song. 

What does the psalmist mean when he tells us to sing a new song to the Lord? Is God wearied of hearing songs like “Amazing Grace” and “How great Thou Art?”I don’t think so. 

Although I can’t sing nearly as well as when I was twenty, I still try my best.  I haven’t breath enough in my lungs and my voice box is fraying. So, is it possible for an old man to learn new lyrics and a new tune? Sure! I’ll do what I can!

I step outside into my yard and sit down in a chair listening to this morning’s composition. Bushes and trees and hanging electrical wires serve as seats for the players.  It’s almost like an opera with the birds sounding the orchestral parts. The birds sing simple songs  but together render a new song. 

I am listening to a live concert with stunning redbird arias, house wren solos, sparrow chirps and moments when the entire orchestra goes into a kind of tweet-jazz. The artificial din of traffic close-by becomes the base and percussion lines. Then, out of the blue, a train whistle, raspy, loud and bassoon-like punctuates this morning’s new song

Every day the song is different –new. So, I add my voice to the lyrics of my life with my morning prayers which I pray out loud.

The lawns, garages, oak and apple trees, white fence, light-blue sky with wisps of cloud all enhance the open air auditorium of my backyard.

I was thinking this morning that the Creator must have warmed to the joy of fashioning nature. Look around and see His art and listen to His tunes. The entire universe is singing this morning, a new song.

Wake up, sleepyhead!

A friend of mine, a devoted Catholic, has a five imperative recipe for an interesting and successful life: Wake up! Get up! Suit up! Show up! Shut up!

Wake up!  I’m fortunate.  I have some kind of internal alarm that wakes me in the morning.  I tell it to myself when I am  going to sleep.  It’s something like,”You have to wake up tomorrow at 5:30 AM.”  And, I do.  I can’t remember the last time I have needed to set an alarm.  You might have to put the alarm across the room because it’s hard for you to rise from sleep, but do it!

Get up! As I get older this is harder for me. I have to resist the temptation to stay a few more minutes, or more, in bed. Another friend of mine told me that each morning before he gets out of bed he remembers the scripture passage that gives his day a boost.  Here it is: “This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24) Those are he first words out of his mouth as he begins his day.

Suit up! Get out of your PJ.s and get going! I admit that some days I walk around in my pajamas until 10 o’clock or so because I don’t have to go anywhere. So, I find something that makes me put my shirt and pants on (shoes, too) and get in the car. I go to the pharmacy  Stop at the bank. Mail that letter. Go out to a restaurant for breakfast. Drive the short way to the Illinois River where the tugboats are pushing grain-filled barges and the Canada Geese are herding their fledglings to shore as the dark clouds threaten a thunderstorm.  Visit someone who would appreciate a visit..

Show up! What does Our Lord want you to do?  Where does your obedience to Him lie today? Maybe, you need to go to work. Take care of your grandchildren. or rake the back yard. I need to show up at the nearby state park and do my morning walk and exercises.  I should call a friend I haven’t heard from in a while.

Shut up!   It’s not all about you! Listen! I know this sounds rude.  But if you talk all the time, especially if three-quarters of your conversation is complaining or just rattling your ideas at people you meet, you won’t able to hear God’s invitations to you throughout the day.  We used to call then “actual graces,” that is, impulses to actually do whatever the Lord is calling your to do at that time. So, we have to be quiet.  So, we have to be quiet. So, we have to be quiet. Then, we will be ready to listen.

What a day!

(Source: Mike Lennon)