Sunday September 3, 2023
August, a Month of Anticipation and Joy
The most pregnant woman I have ever seen requested a blessing for her and her child on a warm August evening just outside the church. Can you imagine the mother’s, and maybe no less the baby’s, anticipation for birth! Do you recall all the anticipation around Hurricane Hilary? Reflecting on the month gone by, I cannot help but to think of all the things greatly anticipated and their unfolding in the company of Mary.
Mary had much to ponder in her heart as her child grew in age, grace and wisdom (Luke 2:40). Our schoolteachers, under Ms. Botto’s leadership, prayed together on retreat with anticipation of the new academic year ahead. We all felt such expectation for the first day of school. It was wonderful to see both students and parents catching up with their “friend groups.” I was filled with joy to hear the students sing and respond during our first school Mass on the Feast of the Apostle Saint Bartholomew.
There are so many births we work to bring about in our creative pursuits, careers and communities, sometimes with an anticipation bordering on anxiety, fear arising from an unknown future, rather than hope.
Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world (John 16:21).
Our future is full of a sure and certain hope, for where Mary has gone, we hope to follow. We celebrated the Assumption of Mary on August 15th; the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, when the course of her earthly life was ended, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven (Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII, 1950). Hope is faith projected into the future. But how can there be faith if there are not people to teach and share it? We groaned in labor pains and prayer for members of our parish to respond to the call to ministry as catechists. I wish to thank those who are serving as catechists in our faith community for the first time: Francisca Garcia, Lupe Garibay, Allison Kristofl, Joselinn Padilla, Andrea Greil.
I spend too much of my time planning or living in the future, be it with hope, anticipation or anxiety. Gratefully, August was also a month, with the beckoning call of the delightful long days, to live in the present. The past is in the mercy of God, the present is for the love of God, and the future is in the Providence of God.
In Christ,
Rev. Robert P. Capone