FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK

My Dear Parishioners

I will never forget the last time I missed Sunday Mass. I was eleven years old and my dad, brother, and myself joined some family and friends on a camping weekend on the eastern end of Long Island. It was a fun-filled trek, but due to bad weather and slow children, we got out of the camp site later than we expected on Sunday. We had picked out a Church for Mass in advance, but by the time we got there we had missed their last service. In the days before smart phones, we struggled to find other options. I remember us pulling into a Church and just pulling on the locked doors, hoping we could get lucky. By Sunday evening we had given up and started the long drive home.

When we eventually pulled back into Nesconset, my dad parked the car in the garage, took a deep breath, and said to my brother and I: I know you boys loved that trip, and so did I. But we won’t ever go on it again, because I won’t ever put you in a situation to miss Mass ever again. My brother and I were annoyed. We didn’t do anything wrong; we truly tried our best. Why the big deal?

In the years that followed, I learned to truly value that experience. I’m glad my dad was so serious about Sunday Mass. I’m grateful that it was nonnegotiable, and that everything else came second to the Lord. I haven’t missed Mass since that day years ago.

This weekend, we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. It should be celebrated with great pomp and circumstance, as it is the reminder of the Source and Summit of our Faith! Holy Mass, Adoration, the reception of Holy Communion, are all highways of grace and mercy pouring into our hearts. Our lives are enriched and strengthened by this Bread of Angels, granted to us by our merciful God. Of course, receiving Holy Communion, sitting in Adoration, and attending Sunday Mass are helpful… but does it really matter if I skip it?

The real question is… what is more important? Sure, we have busy schedules, family functions, sporting events, and fun vacations. Those are all worthy and important. But if Jesus Christ truly died on a Cross, rose from the dead, and gave me His Body and Blood to eat and drink, is there anything more important? If the Mass really is the representation of Calvary, what could be a priority over that? And if it is true that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you, then is there really any reason I would avoid it?

The longer I have been a priest, the more sympathetic I have become to the busy schedules of family life. The complexities of modern life are real and exhausting. But I also have become more grateful for my dad’s line in the sand. Things are fun, and life is busy, but if what I purport to believe about the Eucharist is real, it must take pride of place. When I don’t make the most important thing the most important thing, everything else crashes. We’ve seen that with our young people and families… divided, disordered, wounded lives, because we’ve refused to give anything up for Jesus.

A priest once told me, you can’t control most things in your life, but you can almost always control if you get to Mass on Sunday. If Jesus has really made me promises about who He is and what the Eucharist is, why wouldn’t I put everything second to that. Control what we can control and come to Mass each Sunday. Even though I was annoyed at the time, I’m grateful that my dad knew his priorities. Do we know ours?

Peace,
Fr. Monteleone

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