Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent. It is also St. Patrick’s Day.
Today is the date we usually celebrate the life of St. Patrick. Because it is a Sunday in Lent the Church doesn’t officially celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year. Of course the culture does. Yesterday was probably the primary day for celebration this year. Of course St. Patrick’s Day has come to be a celebration of all things Irish. However you celebrate I hope you’ll remember that Patrick was English (or possibly Welch or Scot) and was one of the great evangelists of our tradition. If you don’t know the story of St. Patrick here are a couple of links to give you more information: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-patrick/ and https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/march-17-saint-patrick-bishop/.
Today’s psalm, and it’s response for today’s Mass, are among the most important we’ll hear. King David had sinned greatly in having his servant, Uriah the Hittite, killed so that he could have Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, for his own. As the King David had that power. Nathan the prophet confronts David about this and his words (You are that man) cut David like a knife. You can read about this in 2 Sam 11 and 12. David’s response is psalm 51. Today we read a part of it but if you read the selection from 2 Sam I recommend you read all of psalm 51 to get the whole picture.
As Fr. Mike Schmitz says sin is knowing what God wants but saying I want what I want. That disobedience is what gets us in trouble. This is why I say if we have the choice most of us want mercy over justice.
The title of today’s post comes from an adaptation of verse 4 of the psalm. It is also a prayer that priests say quietly, or silently, as they are washing the hands at the altar after receiving the gifts. This reminds me, Fr. Dominic Rankin has a great video where he talks about the “secret” prayers of the Mass. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tKXTHdFwHs&list=PLnqimaZO_2MXqZB3nJiunIRvNcneYC81T&index=7
By the way, saying that little prayer silently while washing your hands is a great way to keep God present in everyday things.
Finally, I want to share with you something that happened to me and Connie this week. We were traveling from our home in the Auburn, AL area about 200 miles north to Huntsville to attend a college baseball game and visit the Space Center museum there. Along the way Connie got sick and ended up in the ER in Huntsville (Madison to be exact) and ended up having emergency surgery late Tuesday night. She’s OK and we’re back home where she can rest and recover more comfortably than in the hospital. I mention this to ask you to pray for her full recovery and as a reminder that we are all so blessed to have the great medical professionals available when we need them. The surgeon was an Alabama man (think Michigan vs Ohio State) but we were pleased that her anesthetist was an Auburn guy. The partner of the surgeon is an Ole Miss guy so we were in pretty good hands. Of course the nurses and hospital staff couldn’t have been better either. I’m really grateful for all of them. I know I have readers who are part of the medical community as well so I want to say thanks for all you do as well. In a time of need you guys are really angels.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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