Overwhelmed. That's me, overwhelmed. I usually have too many pots in the on the fire anyway, but this little project is leaving me feeling inadequate for the scope of it. We are now up to twenty or so people interested in attending with us, I am feeling as though I don't have the skills necessary to accomplish what needs to be done. This is silly of course, I probably have above average organizational skills, and above average 'stick-to-it-ness', but you just can't stop those feelings.
I was prayerfully contemplating this on Wednesday morning, and the thought popped into my head "God equips the called, not the other way around" ... well hey, how about that? Once again, my job in all of this is to put one foot in front of the other and walk, God will put in my hands every tool that is needed to accomplish His plan. Jesus said "Come to me all of you who are heavy burdened ... and I will give you rest. It doesn't matter if those burdens are real, or mostly in my own head, the relief is real. Really, it's amazing, when we trust God to provide every tool that we need to do His will, then we are able to become His instrument and be His presence in the world. Praise be to God!
Here is the group who came with us this week: Brianne, Me, Frank, Joe, and Jen. You can see all my pictures from this week here. There is probably a good reason Frank's head looks like he has a halo.
Location and Architecture:
Saint Pius X. 6905 Blondo Street in Omaha. The altar area of Saint Pius X features bold shapes and lines, the church is long and narrow, and makes good use of the land it is on. The decorations grabbed my attention, in particular the cross behind the picture we took above. We say Christ was nailed to the cross, however the nails on the cross behind me in the picture above are more like railroad spikes, that will make you take notice and consider the price Jesus paid for our sake.
A few pictures of the church.
Mass
It's sometimes surprising just how different Mass can be from church to church, and in reality from Mass at one time from another at the same parish. I went to Mary Our Queen's 1100 Sunday Mass for years, then sang at a Saturday night Mass there too ... they were quite different. Still it can vary quite a bit. I figure that between Brianne and I, that we have 15 to 20 years total in Catholic choirs, plus however many more years attending church and liking to sing. We've now been to three churches and we have yet to both know the Mass parts, this week I knew them the first few, but then I was lost and I didn't know one of the songs.
Father Pietramale's homily was wonderful. He tied in the Gospel to real life experiences and got the congregation involved at the same time.
The Gospel:
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. John 10:27
He knows me, I know His voice, and I follow Him. How beautiful is our Good Shepherd? He knows me, I know His voice, and I follow Him.
Twice today, I have spoken with people about a sign I have on my wall
I used to tell God how big my problems were, now I tell my problems how big my God is.Who this is attributed to is unknown to me, but the source? Well that's pretty obvious, I know His voice, and I follow Him. God is the source of wisdom like this, we know him by the peace that He gives us when we draw close to Him.
This is not that He makes it easy, it's not that we'll always be comfortable, we may not even like where we are being led, but the peace our Shepherd provides us is so precious that it cannot even be valued against the travails as a cost. My Lord, my Shepherd, He hears the my lame bleatings, and He stops, and comes, and cares for me. My ears pick up many voices, and if I so desired, I could follow different one of them, I have choices ... but really do I? After all He has done, I have but one Master, one Lord ... shepherd me Jesus, you know me, I know Your voice, I will follow You.
Peace, Eric
No comments:
Post a Comment