I don’t know what you think about milestones. They make us pause, and they sometimes make us sad. Our birthdays are milestones that remind us that time is passing, and passing quickly. They beckon us to give thanks to God for all the graces He has showered on us during the previous year. They also help us remember the times we failed to use the opportunities for good that He sent us on our way. In addition they invite us to look to the future with hope.
There are a few instances in the gospels when the reader can sense the sadness and disappointment of Jesus. The first moment happens when Jesus comes to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. When the Master realizes that His friend has been in the tomb for four days, he sheds tears. The Gospel of John puts it succinctly: “Jesus wept.” The Lord also was disappointed to see His glorious city, Jerusalem, ignoring Him, because “she did not recognize the hour of His visitation.” However, probably the most disappointed plea of Jesus rings out in the Garden of Gethsemane when He addresses His three closest disciples: “Could you not watch one hour with Me?” That painful plea of the Master has touched the hearts of many Catholics down the years and in response they have spent quiet prayerful hours in the presence of the Eucharistic Lord.
Perhaps you don’t know how much I love music. All through my seminary years I played an instrument and/or sang in the choir. Particularly I love the hymns that we sing in most parishes, hymns composed by such well-known composers as Haugen, Haas, Cooney and Joncas. Yet I am always deeply moved by the golden oldies like “Amazing Grace”. There is one classic hymn that always gets me. It is: “How Great Thou Art.” Its solemn melody reverberates in my guts and somehow I palpably experience the grandeur of God.
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Born in India to deeply-committed Catholic parents, Fr Britto is one of seven children. He joined the Salesians of Don Bosco as a young man and was ordained a priest in 1981.
After he completed his priestly formation and his early education in India, he came to the US for his graduate degree in Journalism at...Read more...
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