RBWords

     As I write this, I have just returned from San Diego, CA, and the seventh of eight straight parish missions!  This Saturday, I will travel to a very small town called Wallis, just west of Houston.  One of the prominent features of my itinerant ministry is the variety of parishes and locations that I encounter.  I have a "first come, first served" policy in regard to my calendar.  So, I do not ask a pastor who contacts me about a parish mission how large or wealthy his parish is.  Whoever contacts me first and is willing to accept the available dates on my calendar is the one who gets my presence at that time.  Most of my Lenten missions are "booked" nearly two years in advance!!!!  The variety that I mention is of all kinds.  I go to large and small parishes - rich and poor - big city and small town.  The variety of accommodations can be interesting!  Yet, the people of God seem, in all their variety, to have much the same challenges as well as gifts!  I find it a very enriching experience to visit all these different locations and meet the people to whom I have the nerve to offer my reflections!

     The "asceticism of the road" is my primary Lenten observance!  Some pastors eat out most of the time, or parishioners bring in food!  Others (more rarely) like to cook and provide very good meals during my stay.  Others, on learning that I like to cook, send me to the grocery store to get whatever I want to eat!  Some parishes have very fine music resources.  Others provide none at all, so I have to lead the singing.  Some of the latter places have laity who are accustomed to singing a capella, so they join in very well at the appropriate times.

     What I can say from all of this is that I meet very holy and dedicated folks.  Some people come to the sacrament of reconciliation after many years' absence.  My approach is definitely NOT the old "fire and brimstone" type.  My way is more "sacramental" and focused on Baptism and its implications.  The people who come tell me that they have never heard anything like my approach before and they like it.  With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of my friends (including all who get RBWORDS), I hope to continue this ministry for a long time to come.  IT'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

 "If we are preachers, we must be men and women who read , ponder and live the Word of Scripture.  This meeting with the Jesus of the Gospels, reflected upon and pondered over, becomes a living spring for each of us.  It is from this table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist that we receive nourishment for our lives as preachers.  We also need to renew our faith in the power of God's word.  'the word of God is alive, it is life...(Heb 4:12).  When it is preached Christ is present.

from 'The Ministry of Preaching' by Fr. Damian Byrne, OP (r.i.p.), former Master of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH