Technically there is no such thing as 'Sacramental Season'; however, anyone who works at a Catholic Parish will tell you that this is the time of year where we run around with our hair on fire. We have First Reconciliation, First Holy Communion, Easter Vigil, Confirmation, and - if we are really blessed - marriages in June. All we do all year is geared towards the climax of the holiest day of our Liturgical Cycle, the day when Yahweh moving among us offered Himself as a Sacrifice to the Father to open the gates of heaven for those on earth.
This year Easter is on April 17th which means Easter Vigil is April 16th. It means I will be up until midnight on Saturday night and up early Sunday morning to host the Hospitality table for the people at the Mass I attend that morning. It means I will be exhausted and washing towels the next day. It means I will then be entering names into the Sacramental Books, creating Certificates, figuring out the photos from the thumbdrive the photographer gives me and preparing for the first rehearsal for those children receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist for the first time. Oh, and all those Sacramental Book entering and certificate making will start again.
I will walk with people entering into full communion with Holy Mother Church, helping them to get all those pesky ducks in a row. Holy Mother Church may be guided by the Holy Spirit but She runs on paperwork and it is the piccole persone of any organization that gets this stuff done.
We are the ones told how stupid we are, that it is our fault their favorite Uncle who now attends the local Evangelical MegaChurch and hasn't been to Mass for the last 15 years cannot be their child's Sponsor at RCIA. We are told they will never set foot inside a Catholic Church again because we suggest that wearing a dress-slit-up-to-here is inappropriate for Mass and request that the men not wear their favorite sports jersey (even if it DOES honor Deebo) when standing before the Altar on Easter Vigil to get Baptized. People on Twitter will tell us how we don't really care about God because we try and instill a sense of decorum and an appreciation for the holiness of the day in the families we catechize and guide and listen to and take phone calls from, at home, on our own time, in the middle of the night.
And every year I ask myself if all this is worth it.
Well, let me think this through:
I embrace a religious philosophy built on two things: Sacrifice and Service. The foundation upon which those two are built is Truth. I believe that God stepped into time and space and offered mankind a way out of the darkness of the Egodrama and gave them the keys to the kingdom if they would only embrace the Theodrama. I believe that The Catholic Church offers to all of us a sure way to salvation, but that it requires discipline, commitment, honor and willingness to surrender my wants and needs to Him who presides over us all.
If I do embrace this philosophy then it becomes so much MORE than that - it permeates my entire being, guides every thought, word and action and when I slip and fall? I am obligated to get back up, grab my cross and start walking again.
The past two years have been so difficult on me. People I once had a very high opinion of have revealed that their embrace of Catholicism is based on political ideals rather that true Faith. I have found that someone like me would not be welcome at certain parishes because I am either too orthodox and too progressive.
However, I have also watched people in the Ukraine receive Our Lord in the Eucharist while Russian bombs rain down upon them and destroy their infrastructure. I have watched priests and nuns get kidnapped and murdered in Africa. I have watched people in my own life bury their children and never waver in their trust in God and the Church He founded.
So once again, I am reminded that I stand on the shoulders of Giants. I do not HAVE to do these things Holy Mother Church asks of me, I GET to do these things. I am willing to keep trudging the road, carrying my cross and relying upon the Sacramental Liturgical Life offered to me.
And I will make certificates, wash towels, listen to others tell me what a lousy job I am doing and I will endure....
Besides, tomorrow is opening day for the Giants and who KNOWS what the season will bring?
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