Stop Staring!  My mom is ecstatic to be in the homestretch of being released from the Rehab Center.  She’s been away from home for about two months now.  She was in the hospital for almost two weeks and it will be six weeks at Wellbridge when she leaves there later this week.  She is ready to go home, and my dad is ready for her to be home!  It’s been a long and tiresome journey for both of them!
 
Throughout my mom’s stay at Wellbridge, I would celebrate Mass on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 p.m. in one of the Center’s large living room areas.  At first, I thought I would get only a handful of people, but it morphed into some 30 people in attendance each weekend.  It’s been grace-filled being able to celebrate Mass there.  The daughter of a resident came up to me last weekend and thanked me profusely for celebrating Mass.  She told me her mom was in tears being able to attend Mass and receive the Eucharist.
 
Given the size of my growing congregation, I got to the point of printing a program with the mass parts, readings, and a hymn or two.  My family and I would then go around and make sure every one of the wheelchair brigade members had a program and was ready for Mass.  I enjoy watching how the simplest gestures of kindness or love can brighten someone’s day, especially in a hospital, nursing home, or rehab center.
 
Immediately following Mass, our family usually camps out in the Bistro Dining Room to visit AND to figure out what we are going to do for dinner.  Early on during my mom’s stay, we would stay there for our Sunday meal.  Sometimes we would buy things from the quaint Bistro and sometimes we would get carryout from a nearby restaurant.  During the last few weekends, given that my mom’s mobility improved, we would venture out to Art & Jake’s Sports Bar and Grill in Washington Township.  We’ve been there three times now and have had the luxury of sitting outside on two of our three visits there.  We especially enjoyed the outdoor dining opportunities because the weather each time was absolutely spectacular.  After dinner, we do our usual 15-minute goodbye ritual (people must think we’re crazy given all the hugging, goodbyes, and the item swaps that happen between cars).  I usually drive my parents back to Wellbridge and help get my mom situated for the night.  My task is to make sure her Roku and TV are set, she is stocked with chocolate and that she’s ready for the evening round of her IV antibiotic.  My dad and I then have a ritual with her where we say some prayers before we leave.  Most times, we would be sitting for these prayers, but last weekend, we were standing at her bedside while she was lying on her bed with her hands dutifully folded.  After we got done saying our usual Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and prayer to Father Solanus, there was this brief yet poignant pause.  My dad and I were staring at my mom and she was staring at us.  She then looked at both of us, and with a tinge of laughter said, “So, is this what it’s going to be like when people are staring at me in my casket?”  We looked at each other and burst out into laughter.  The pose for the scene couldn’t have been any more perfect:  Prayers.  Hands folded.  Staring.  Being horizontal.  Perfect match.  I then bent over and kissed my mom and then so did my dad.  As my dad was hugging and kissing my mom she let out another round of laughter and said, “Remember, I want a cheap one.”  I wasn’t clued in at first, and so with a scrunched up forehead, I asked, “Whataya talkin’ about?”  She then responded, “A CASKET!  I just want a cheap one.”  “Oh good heavens, Mom,” I said with a smile.  “Next time I guess we won’t stare at you!”
 
Imitating the Magi:  Okay, this isn’t the result of getting ready for those Christmas in July specials.  But it DOES have to do with GAZING, unlike the staring I talked about above!  On the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ a few weeks ago, I quoted from St. John Chrysostom’s Homilies on the First Letter to the Corinthians (24, 4: PG 61, 204-205).   The text speaks volumes, and I wanted to share it with everyone here.
 
“Christ gave us his flesh to eat in order to deepen our love for him. When we approach him, then, there should be burning within us a fire of love and longing….”
 
“The wise men paid homage to Christ’s body even when it was lying in a manger. Foreigners who did not worship the true God left their homes and their native land, set out on a long journey, and on reaching its end, worshiped in great fear and trembling.  Let us, the citizens of heaven, at least imitate these foreigners.
 
”Do you not see how you gaze, here on earth, upon what is most precious of all?  They only saw Christ in a manger, they saw nothing of what you now see, and yet they approached him with profound awe and reverence. You see him, not in a manger but on an altar, not carried by a woman but offered by a priest; and you see the Spirit bountifully poured out upon the offerings of bread and wine.
 
”Unlike the wise men, you do not merely see Christ’s body: you know his power as well, and whole divine plan for our salvation. Having been carefully instructed, you are ignorant of none of the marvels he has performed.  Let us then awaken in ourselves a feeling of awe and let us show a far greater reverence than did those foreigners….”
 
“What is heaven’s most precious possession? I will show you it here on earth.  I do not show you angels or archangels, heaven or the heaven of heavens, but I show you the very Lord of all these. Do you not see how you gaze, here on earth, upon what is most precious of all?  You not only gaze on it, but touch it as well. You not only touch it, but even eat it, and take it away with you to your homes.”
 
May we do all that we can to deepen our love and desire for the Eucharist, the very source and summit of our entire Christian life.
 
Enjoy the week.  Know of my prayers.
 
In Christ,
 
gmb
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