Who Is Guiding You?

HERS:

We took an inadvertent break last week from Roamin’ Catholics… Lou was travelling and I had a friend in from out of town, so we got back to it this week. I travelled to Erie this weekend, but got back in time to attend the 5:00 pm Sunday mass at the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, MD. This vibrant parish began in 1956 and the 1,200 seat church was completed in 1971. Mass was said by Father Angel Gabriel, the new Parochial Vicar of the parish. Nope, you can’t make up a name like that. A parochial vicar is a priest assigned to a parish in addition to, and in collaboration, with the parish priest or rector.

This mass was all about sheep and shepherds. The first reading, responsorial psalm, gospel and homily all touched on the theme of sheep and shepherds. This prompted me to do a little post-mass research on Shepherds and Sheep. Everything I read was pretty straightforward… the job of the shepherd is to protect the safety and welfare of his sheep. This week’s gospel reading talks about Jesus seeing a vast crowd of people whom he felt sorry for… they were in need of someone to lead them. Sheep are the same way, they need someone to guide them and lead them. I love the analogy of Jesus as the shepherd… leading and guiding and protecting us.

This week’s responsorial psalm… The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. This is powerful when you really think about it. It is another way to say, put your trust in God. If we truly did that… trusted that God will take care of us, what could we possibly want?

Father Angel Gabriel touched on the topic of other shepherds that we follow in our lives. He talked about wanting to be just like one of his professors when he was in school. He went on to say how he idolized this teacher and wanted to be just like him. That was, until the day he saw his teacher as human and that teacher disappointed him. He then talked about the “shepherds” we follow that lead us astray and do not provide us with protection and guidance. What are these “false” shepherds in our lives? Who do we follow? What do we follow after? Have you ever followed someone or something that led you astray only to be faced with disappointment?

Our body feeding was somewhat of a disappointment this week. We went to an Israeli restaurant in Rockville only to find that it was closed for some reason. Oy vey. We then headed to a place called Slap Fish only to find that there was an hour wait for food. Out of desperation (and hunger) we headed to the Five Guys next door for a quick burger.

HIS:

Who is guiding you?  Do you ever feel a tug from an outside force?  Do you ever feel like you were supposed to be somewhere at a particular moment?  To see or hear something?  I think this is what faith is leading us to.  Listening to the moments in our lives to see what they are saying to us.  Before we started our Roamin’ Catholic journey, I would hear a priest or a nun say they were called to their vocation.  I never truly understood this until I started listening.

Welcome to this week’s installment of Roamin’ Catholics.  We are back after a week off.  I am so glad to get back to blogging as I am truly enjoying the journey.  This week brought us to the Shrine of St Jude in Rockville, Md.  St. Jude Thaddeus, the name sake of this particular parish, is the patron saint of lost causes.  Boy could I write a doctoral dissertation on that topic, but I will stick to the topic at hand.  St. Jude parish was founded, like so many of the parishes in suburban Montgomery county as we are finding, during the 1950s.  The growth of the Washington suburbs was fueled largely by the flight of families from the city as well as the post war growth that most metropolitan areas in America experienced.  While the parish was founded in 1956, the current church building wasn’t dedicated until 1971.  The structure looks like a big A frame and seems somewhat typical of the post Vatican II church architecture.  This sanctuary wasn’t nearly as inviting or airy as some of the more recent vintage churches we have visited.

Our celebrant this week was Father Gabriel.  Father’s full name is Angel Gabriel Fermin.  Not even sure where to begin with this.  Either he changed his name or his parents set him up for this path in life from birth.  Seriously?  Angel Gabriel?  By the way, St Fermin is celebrated in Pamplona Spain.  Do you know what else they do during the festival of San Fermin?  This little thing that was first made famous by Ernest Hemingway, The Running of the Bulls.  Father Gabriel was new to the parish having arrived just two weeks ago.  He pointed out that this was a new parish and new church and new people.  He pointed out that he was not born here but didn’t say where he was born.  His accent sounded Italian but his smile and accentuation of certain words reminded me of Eddie Murphy in Coming to America. 

The readings this week all dealt with a flock being led by a shepherd.  This ties into my earlier question, who is guiding you?  The first reading discussed the shepherd who misled their flock and the punishment they shall receive for misleading his flock.  The responsorial psalm is one of my favorite, the 23^rd.  The Lord is My Shepherd, there is Nothing I Shall want; Though I Walk in the Dark Valley, I Fear no Evil for you are at My Side, are just two of the more quotable passages that many people are familiar with.  The second reading sorta combined the concept discussed several weeks ago of three being one (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and the fact that the Lord is our shepherd.  The final passage in the reading being, He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  Finally, Mark’s gospel tells us of Jesus’ heart being moved by the thirst for the word, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them.

This brings me back to my original question, Who is guiding you?  Are you listening to who is calling?  Live life like you mean it.

Apparently no one was guiding us for dinner this evening.  We tried to go to an Israeli (yes Israeli) place for dinner.  When we arrived, there was  a sign on the door that due to a schedule change, they would be closed.  I can understand that they are closed on Saturday, but they are supposed to be open on Sunday.  So then we tried to go to a casual place called Slap Fish.  As we walked in, they said they would be an hour wait for food.  We said good bye.  Next door was some burger place that I don’t quite remember the name, Cinco Caballeros, Five Blokes, Some Guys…not sure of the name but they had red and white tile inside and the burgers were pretty darn good.

And as always, we end with our Soulfie...