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(Posting note: This was recorded on Saturday 7/7/18 but I didn’t find time to edit, transcribe and post until this morning, Monday 7/9/18)
A blessed 13th Saturday in Ordinary Time to you and your family. I’m Deacon Ken Crawford and this is my 5th video as a newly ordained deacon. I was ordained 1 week ago today, on Saturday June 30th.
Apologies for missing yesterday. I went on a hike with my sons. We went to Mt. Diablo, just outside the Bay Area here in California. There was just no way I was going to squeeze it in. I’m making it up with an occasional Saturday post and I hope you enjoy want I’m about to say.
On tap for today is that Thursday was my daughter’s birthday, and since I’m kinda on this new blessings kick (and sure enough in here (the Book of Blessings) is the Order of Blessings on the Occasion of a Birthday)… and so I asked my daughter if she would like me to do it and she suggested that we do it at the party later in the afternoon. I was a little nervous about that. It was not a Catholic crowd. It was friends from her public school. Would that be too much imposing our faith on them? But I decided, “that’s what she wants, that’s what we’re going to do.”
I was SO glad that I did! The world is hungering for Christ. They really want Christ. They they really want the witness of Christ. We’re far too afraid to share that. We’re not imposing when we share our faith. I guess you could argue it is closer to imposing when we are talking politics and those sorts of things because we’re challenging them on their beliefs. But when we are just carrying out our faith, that is in no way imposing. That was so obvious at the party.
I sat her down. I started the blessing. I went through a brief reading as the rite calls for. I did the prayers associated to it. I did skip the litany and a couple of things that would have made it more than a couple of minutes, but it was a full 2 to 3 minutes that I did. Everyone was awed by that, to see a Father took the time to bless his daughter on her birthday… and I don’t think most of them knew I was newly ordained. It wasn’t a topic of conversation.
So we really should do more of that. For those of you who aren’t ordained, because the Book of Blessings is mostly (it does have some adjustments for lay people doing these blessings) oriented for clergy. There’s also a 2nd book that I’ve had for a while now, the Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers, that is specifically designed for lay people. If you’re interested in perhaps doing more blessings and liturgical like prayers in your house, you might want to consider this one.
That’s my topic for this morning, mostly about the idea of being willing to be public with our faith; being willing to share our faith and love, but mostly in a way where we are giving our blessings to the world, not challenging people on their faith. Obviously there is a time for that. I’m a leader in RCIA, I know there’s a time to say, ‘This is what is true’ and all of that, but we need to be more discerning as to when to do that. Not much discernment is needed when we share our love, praise and blessings of God. People, everyone except the hardened atheists who know how much it hurts their cause for us to have our love for God in the world, except for that small group of people who generally speaking you don’t run into except online… most people are tickled pink to see people carrying out their faith. So let’s do it. Let’s do more of it. I think I’m personally going to do more of it. I think as a deacon I’m more obligated to be Christ’s feet and voice in the world. We all are, obviously, but I have a special obligation in a certain fashion to be willing to bless, to share the faith, to represent the Church in a somewhat formal sense, in the world. But doing that doesn’t mean being overly rigid about that.
In any case, I always want to keep these short. That’s my topic for this morning. God bless you all for watching. God bless you in your daily lives. Get out there and do things with your family. It was a joyous thing yesterday to be out on the trail with my sons. I encourage you to do the same. God is so prevalent in nature. His overwhelming love in the details of this creation he made, just gets to me every time. So get out there and do it, share the joy and love of your family in God’s creation. Share that love with each other. God bless you all. I will pray for you all. I will pray for your families. I ask for your prayers for my ministry in return.
And God willing, I’ll see you tomorrow.