"You are the light of the world!"
This Gospel from Matthew is one of my favorite. I love the fact that we are all the light of the world. It's true that we can't all shine the brightest all the time, but we all have our time to shine for the whole world to see.
Since it's back-to-school time St. Jerome Church always has a Mass to bless backpacks and students for the new school year. Tonight we had that Mass. Church was full, this is a Mass that is always well attended. And the atmosphere was full of energy. It was like everyone was excited with the idea of going back to school. I'm sure some of the teachers would like to have had a little more summer but I knew at least one brand new teacher who was just as excited as a first grader. And this is such a wonderful tradition for a Catholic community whose children go to public schools.
Another reason the excitement level was high is because this is Picnic week. There are a lot who think that school shouldn't start until after Picnic. It is the first Saturday in August after all. But through the years it seemed to work out just as well if school was in session for the St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic, or not. There are advantages both ways. And disadvantages. But this year school starts on Thursday and the Picnic is Saturday.
The Picnic is a huge opportunity to let our light shine. In fact, I would venture to say that Picnic is when we are at our best. There are so many people who come into our community who have never been here. And there are those who have never been around a Catholic parish. So we have such an opportunity to show what we are made of and how an event like this is done.
For over five years there has been a small group of people, devoted to the rosary, who have met at the Grotto out at church to pray for our intentions, our community and our world. We believe strongly that it is only through prayers to the Blessed Mother that our society and our country will get back to where we need to be. When we ask intentions I have begun asking the Blessed Mother to join us in our prayers. And she does. Sometimes she comes as a cool breeze on a really hot day. And sometimes she comes by holding off the rain until we are finished with our prayers. I asked her to join us tonight and she gave us a beautiful blue sky and a nice breeze on a sunny day.
I wasn't expecting to see anymore of her but towards the end of Mass I looked up to the Blessed Mother statue and saw this ball of light behind her statue. I wanted to holler and tell everyone to look. I restrained myself but as soon as Mass was over I ran up to one of my Grotto Keepers and told her to look. The light was still there but fading a little. She told me not to despair because she had taken a picture of all of the backpacks on the altar and when she looked at the picture she saw the ball, brighter than I had seen it. I knew then that she was there and she was showing our kids how to shine.
How can you help but shine when you see something like that? With her help we truly can be the light of the world.