Father John J. Lombardi
Meditations from Mary’s Mountain
I just gave a retreat and learned a lot. The title of the retreat was: ABC=A Balanced Christian: Living Harmoniously in the World Today
You may be reminded by what Jesus says: "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place a rest a while" (Mk. 6:31). That’s just what many people
did and I was impressed by their spirit and fervor, their love of Jesus and Mary and leading spiritual lives.
I just reviewed some of their evaluations and one of the most common themes was the time for silence. The retreat was advertised as
"semi-silent": We had allotted lots of time for silence (no talking) and also time for conversation. People enjoyed both. However, I was struck by how many people,
coming from such busy, interactive liveswhat with children, jobs, traffic snarls, ipods and email and cell phonesthat so many did like the silence. Why? Perhaps
because holy silence is a healer. We have so much talk and noise and chatter in our lives that refraining from speaking and "listening to the silence" heals wearied
souls and allows one to receive Jesus and His messages in a more intimate and deep way…How about for you? How can you embrace silence in your life?
Another theme of the evaluations was Eucharistic adoration (the exposed Blessed Sacrament of Jesus in Holy Communion upon the altar for
veneration, praise and worshipand simply "sitting with Him"). People loved this. We had two nights of all night adoration, and I was a little concerned we would have
enough people to sign up to cover the hours. No problem! The retreatants signed up faithfullyand fully!and loved sitting in the chapel talking and listening to Jesus.
For, Jesus Himself said: "I Am the living Bread come down from Heaven" (Jn. 6)… Have you ever made a holy hour or spent time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?
People also loved coming to Mary’s Mountain. The beauty, sereneness, sacred history all helped envelop them in a holy love and peace that
brought spiritual fruits. No wonder, as St Elizabeth Seton once said about our Mountain: "We’re halfway in the sky. The height of our situation is almost incredible."
…So: keep coming back!
More than a couple folks responded about the beauty of the liturgies, especially the singing (provided by our faithful Grotto choir) and how
this healed, inspired and enthralled them. Music –especially "of the spheres", the Heavens, like our friends sanghelped in the balancing and healing and in-spiriting
process. In the spiritual life, I’ve come to learn, "It all adds up". That is, all our beautiful Catholic customs, disciplines and provisions which both imitate and
"translate" the Lord as One, True and Beautifulespecially sacred songhelp us to become holy!...Seek holy music to heal the soul.
Even though I was the "director" of the retreatgiving talks, hearing confessions, kinda’ acting like I knew what I was doing--I also learned a
lot about becoming holy from the retreatants themselves. I heard about some who made valiant attempts at praying, what with so many challenges. I discovered about
struggles in marriages and jobs and relationshipsand these retreatants still being committed to Jesus and their duties thru it all. I witness thru these folks about
being faithful orthodox Catholics despite so many secularist pressures. And I learned much form two non-Catholics who came to all the services (even the Masses and
healing services while respecting our customs) and responded with great cheer thru all and even in our question and answer session. And I earned from Gregory, the
youngest retreatant, age sixteen, who is just graduating from high school and attended with his grandparents. I saw in him and them a beautiful family and heartfelt
devotion!...And so I’m thankful for all these lessons on "Living harmoniously in the world today" and feel refreshed myself after such great witnesses!
A parish school visit
I recently received some beautiful letters form the seventh graders from St. Matthew School, Wilmington, Del., who pilgrimaged to the Grotto
last month. A friend I was driving with said right before I read these letters: "I could use some good news." So…I readand the "good news" came forth! The young guys
and girls said how impressed they wereeven in the rainwith the many statues of the Grotto; how they enjoyed drinking the spring water and, and to our edification, how
much they loved the Mass. We even had a foot race before they departed which they reveled in. As I now recall I was delighted by how serene, quite and participative
these fifty young folks were at the Mass. Many responded that they loved the singing (some of it in Greek and Latin). A couple responses which heartened usand made us
smile, were: " Dear Father Jack, Thank you for giving us a tour. I liked it. It was very fun. I liked the mass there… it was really quick mass…" And: "The Mass was
really cool, too. It was different than the way we do it here…Thanks for a great time!" Also: "I loved all the statues of all the people remembered in history. (Father)
You are a very fast runner. I was the one in the white shirt and tan pants, but mostly everyone was in pants, but I was the only girl. I was also the one that los the
race…" Lastly: "I greatly enjoyed all parts of the tour but may favorite part was the 12 noon mass in the glass chapel. I also like the plants and trees." ...Sometimes
I get in the "just-going-thru-the-motions" syndrome and letters like these help so much to remind me of the tremendous privilege to serve and be here at Mary’s Mountain
Grotto!
"God Squad": In this Sunday’ Gospel (Mt. 9: 36- 10:8), Jesus calls the Twelve Apostles to ministry. In honor of the Divine Trinity here’s Three
Meditation Pints: 1- Jesus Summons His servants: The Lord calls men today, especially in the priesthoodto minister to His people. So, are other men summoning guysand
ladiesto ministry in the Church? Translation: Don’t be shy! Some say there is a large failure in this pointthe summoning-invitation of men to ministry in the Church,
and thus there is a loss of vocations to priesthood and religious life today. How can you positively, concretely call young men to the priesthood and religious life
todayso as to respond not only to "God," but also to the particular needs of local, real-life parishes?
2-Jesus trains the Apostles: He taught them how to pray, how to minster to othersespecially the poor, sick and dying; and also how to go out
into the world to challenge unjust persons and systems. These men-apostles had a desire to respond to Jesus Call to Adventureand they answered His Call? Will you? 3-
Male Ministry and a Healthy Balance: The extremes we must avoid in today’s Church and world aremale abuse of power (as we have seen recently in the clergy abuse crisis
here in the Untied States; and also thru masculine abuses of power, whether physical or mental); and the other extreme of rejecting or neglecting the Bible’s
revelation, and constant Church Tradition of male-servant leadership in the Catholic Church. The "middle course" is authentic men leaders serving in conjunction with
othersmale and females, as has been done wonderfully in the pastto respect the dignity of all persons; to provide Ways of Salvation in Christ Jesus, and to liberate
souls to Eternal Life. We saw a beautiful example of this in Pope John paul II who was, obviously a male servant, and still yet balanced his leadership and teaching
skills and responsibility with othersladies included (remember Mother Teresa as his good friend?) and thus exercised the Ministry of Peter and the apostles. We
strongly need this balance today in continuity of the past, so let us all pray for all our leaders to teach and preach in the image of Jesus Christ!
Happy Father’s Day!
Read other reflections by Father John J. Lombardi
