“The Church teaches each man receives eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgement.” (CCC 1022)
St. John of the Cross wrote, ‘At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.”
Perfect love will make possible entrance into heaven, imperfect love will require purification, and total lack of love will mean eternal separation.” (U.S.Catholic Catechism for Adults p.153)
“[Today’s] feast celebrates all of the unknown saints who are now in Heaven. Sanctity is within everyone’s reach; through the Communion of Saints each part of the Mystical Body of Christ helps every other to grow in holiness” (Daily Roman Missal)
Today, we remember those who have gone on before us who are in heaven. We are joined by the heavenly host in this mass And during the Liturgy of the Eucharist The heavenly host will join us as we acclaim
“Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” (Roman Misal Preface Acclamation)
In today’s first reading from the book of Revelation We see a small glimpse of heavenly worship
“After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb."
All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed:
"Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen." (Rev 7)
When we are celebrating mass here on earth We are joined by the Communion of Saints We are experiencing a glimpse of Heaven
The Apostle John is the writer of the Book of Revelation He is also the writer of today’s second reading from the first letter of John John is known as the apostle that Jesus loved He was also the apostle that stood at the foot of the cross with the mother of Jesus
In the first letter of St. John we hear “Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.” (1Jn 3)
We are God’s children We are all called to be saints We are all called to holiness We are all called to be pure
But how do we become holy? How do we become pure? How do we get to heaven?
“Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.” (CCC 1024)
We hear the answer to purity in the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount We become poor in spirit We become meek We become merciful We have a clean heart We become peacemakers
We have many examples that have been set before us Saints that the Church recognizes But also the unknown saints in heaven These saints might be personal to only us They could be mothers, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, and aunts They could be babies or teens that died to young
“These men and women served the Lord during their time on earth and continue to give witness to the Lord by the examples of their lives. During this month at the end of autumn, when we give thanks for the abundance of the harvest for another year, we also give thanks to God, whose harvest of souls in heaven we recognize in all the saints.” (Pastoral Patterns)
Today, we remember and celebrate with them the Glory of God in the Highest
This past week has been a “who’s who” of saints of the church On Tuesday, we celebrated the feast of the Archangels St. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael The only angels mentioned by name in the Scriptures
On Wednesday, September 30, we celebrated the Memorial of St. Jerome A doctor of the church, that means he was a great teacher Jerome was quite the curmudgeon He had a temper, and was hard to get along with
Jerome is largely responsible for our Bible today He spent much of his life translating the Holy Scriptures from Hebrew to Latin Jerome reminds us, “Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”
On Thursday, the church celebrated the memorial of St. Therese of Liseaux She is also known as the “Little Flower” And she is also a doctor of the church, a great teacher She is quite the opposite of St. Jerome She was uneducated She entered the convent when she was fifteen years old And she died at the age of twenty four
Her autobiography, “The Story of a Soul” has touched many hearts One quote I like from St. Therese is, “Without love all is worthless”.
On Friday October 2, the church celebrated the memorial of Guardian Angels ‘Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” (CCC 336)
And today, we celebrate the twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary time. But October fourth is also the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi In fact, today is the eighth hundredth anniversary of his death
St. Francis grew up wealthy But he had an encounter with Jesus, and it changed his life He embraced a life of poverty And spent the rest of his life preaching the Gospel to the world “Preach the Gospel always, use words if necessary”
St. Francis loved animals And that is one reason it is a tradition to bless pets on his feast day
In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus once again confront the chief priests and the leaders of the people He tells them a parable, a story The story of the landowner who planted a vineyard
Jesus is referencing today’s first reading from Isaiah “The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel” (Is 5) Jesus is using this parable to confront the leaders of Israel About how they have rejected the prophets And how they are rejecting Him, the Son of God “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Matt 21)
I have built plenty of fence in my day And my dad taught me that you had to have a good corner post to have a good fence If the corner post goes down, the whole fence can go down
“The household of God [is] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the capstone” (Eph 2:20) St. Peter says we are all “living stones” in the house of God If we reject Jesus, we reject love Jesus confronts the leaders of Israel on many occasions He calls them hypocrites He says that they honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (Mt 15:8)
Last week Pope Leo visited France Many people came out to see Pope Leo, the Vicar of Christ
France used to be deeply Catholic France has been referred to as the “eldest daughter of the Church” France is the home of many great saints St. Joan of Arc, St. Therese of Liseaux, St. Bernadette are just a few
But in the past few centuries, France has slowly turned away from the church France has become more and more secular France has legalized abortion France has legalized a law to assist with death
While in France, Pope Leo confronted this insult to human dignity Hear what he to the caregivers and sick at Lourdes
“I know that for some of you, because of particular illnesses and, at times, terrible pain, your horizon may appear dark, uncertain and without hope. But no human law should ever make you lose the certainty of your dignity. On the contrary, it is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion. It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral.” (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2026/september/documents/20260927-francia-accueil-notredame.html)
“What is legal is not necessarily moral”
Many of the leaders of France honored Pope Leo with their lips But their hearts are far from his
But what about us? Where are our hearts? Are our hearts with the Sacred Heart of Jesus? When we place our heart in the Heart of Jesus We not only honor him with our lips, but with our lives We can be a saint…
A Facebook memory from 15 years ago came up today. It was from an Ag Blog that I wrote for the Journal Record based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The editor made a nice comment about this blog, and it was a nice memory (that I had forgotten). I’m guessing the world was in some economic turmoil at the time (aren’t we always). I wanted to put a picture of my Dad with a horse, but I didn’t have one on my computer. I like this one that Lisa took out at his pens.
Photo Credit Lisa Johnson Schultz
Wounds
My dad is a horse guy. He likes horses, and he always made sure that we had one to ride and call our own. When Teague and I were married, dad wanted Teague to feel like she was a part of the family. So, he bought her a mare named Dale. Teague even got a new saddle to go with her horse.
One morning when I was feeding the horses, I found Dale with a hole in her neck big enough to stick my fist through. I guessed that she had hung it on a post or the fence. I loaded her into the horse trailer, and took her to the vet. He examined and cleaned the wound. He told me that the treatment of this wound would require me to peel the scab off the wound and spray it with medicine every day.
Peeling the scab off hurt Dale, so I had to go about slow and easy. The wound gradually began to close and heal. Eventually, it healed completely with hardly any trace of a scar or the huge hole that had been there.
Throughout my life, I have been hurt and hurt others both physically and emotionally. I have found that healing can happen in all circumstances. But, as with Dale’s wound, it takes patience, time, and it can be painful.
I wonder if economic healing would work the same way?
This past weekend I served mass with Fr. Ryan at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Panhandle, Texas. This was my homily.
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time August 16, 2026
Is 56:1, 6-7; Ps 67; Rom 11:13-15, 29-32; Matt 15: 21-28
“...for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.” (Is 56:7)
In St. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical On the Eucharist and Its Relationship to the Church, he says,
“I have been able to celebrate Holy Mass in chapels built along mountain paths, on lakeshores and seacoasts; I have celebrated it on altars built in stadiums and in city squares... This varied scenario of celebrations of the Eucharist has given me a powerful experience of its universal and, so to speak, cosmic character. Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 8)
When St. John Paul II talks about celebrating mass “on the humble altar of a country church” I imagine country churches like Cristo Redentor in Gruver, Sacred Heart in Spearman, and St. Teresa’s in Panhandle.
Wherever the Eucharist is celebrated, “it unites heaven and earth.” Indeed this is a “house of prayer for all people.”
“For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11) I remember this verse from today’s second reading from a Deacon retreat I attended about 11 years ago It convicted me I cannot give back the gifts I have received from God. I can either share them or leave them idle Are you sharing your gifts?
In today’s Gospel, we see the Canaanite woman calling out to Jesus Begging Jesus to heal her daughter She is relentless She is persistent She continues to ask Jesus Even when she is ignored
I used to work at Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Oklahoma One day a colleague came to my office, she looked distraught, confused, frightened She was a scientist And I would classify her and her husband as Atheist/Agnostic
She shared with me that she had cancer And she was in for a fight She explained that she was assembling a team to help her fight And she wanted me to be on her team
My role she said would involve the spiritual… and also humor I met with her Listened to her Prayed with her Laughed with her And cried with her
She had many spiritual experiences She had a miraculous healing The cancer was gone We both gloried in the goodness of God Her and her husband became believers in Jesus
She still texts me every so often When she goes back for her yearly checkup She asks for my prayers
One day we got together for lunch I noticed how much different she looked Her hair was back, but different Her skin color was healthy There was joy and excitement for life with her family in her voice
At the end of our conversation, she explained that she was going back for her yearly check up And she asked again for my prayers I told her that I would pray for her But I also told her that she didn’t need to ask, because she was in my prayers
She paused and then explained to me that one thing that she had learned during this journey was how important it was to ask…
As I drove down the road, I thought about what she said… It is important to ask It is important to ask our friends for help, for prayer It is important for us to ask and petition the Lord He wants us to ask He wants to talk to us He wants to be with us in our struggles and our blessings
Sometimes we have to be persistent like the Canaanite woman Sometimes our prayers might not be answered in our time Or they might be answered in a way we don’t know
I decided that my friend had a profound thought about how important asking was And then I thought of her name Her first name is Deborah Her last name is Ask…
Deborah Ask
“Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.” (Matt 15)
Years ago, I help host a college retreat team One of the young men was asking me about being a farmer I was telling him about driving a tractor. and that I had a lot of time to think I shared that sometimes I would think of things that I shouldn’t have been thinking about
But a thought would come into my mind, “I shouldn’t think of that” And I would try and pray or think of something else The young man gasped and said, “That was a moment of grace!” “That was a grace from God!”
I have thought about that quite often How God is always drawing us to Him
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us “Grace is participation in the life of God.’ (CCC 1997) The Church describes grace in a number of ways: sanctifying grace, habitual grace, actual graces, special graces and sacramental graces. (CCC 1999-2003)
Grace is this gift that God is continuously offering us to help us in our call to become children of God (CCC 1996)
Today we hear of the feeding of the five thousand Jesus has just heard of the death of John the Baptist, his cousin, the one who baptized him I can only imagine how sad Jesus was He wanted to be alone He got on a boat
“But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns” (Matt 14:13) As Jesus is coming into the shore, he sees the crowds, it was a big crowd Jesus was touched He had pity for them He had compassion on them And he begins to heal the sick
But they are in a deserted place and there is no way to get food The disciples are being practical They are encouraging Jesus to send the people home to get them something to eat But Jesus loves these people They were there for Him in His time of sorrow
He is going to feed them He has the people sit on the grass He takes the bread and fish He looks to heaven Blesses the bread He gives thanks
The disciples give the food to the people The people are fed And there is more left over
A moment of Grace…
Listen again to this invitation to grace from the first reading
“Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!... …Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.” (Is 55)
“Listen, that you may have life.” “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” (Ps 145)
We are nourished on the Word of God and the life of the Church The Lord feeds us spiritually When we come to mass When we pray When we go to Confession When we participate in the Sacraments When we are a part of the life of the Church like the Jamaica And the One Hundredth Anniversary Mass at Amarillo In all these things, we are experiencing God’s Grace
In the second reading from Romans Paul asks the question
“What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?”
The answer is nothing can separate us from His love “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8)
Jesus is still multiplying the bread He is still feeding His people He loves us He loves you He is constantly calling to us to come closer to Him
His Grace is here His Grace is with us in many forms Are you watching? Are you listening? Are you participating?
NYC – Metropolitan Museum of Art – Death of Socrates
The Death of Socrates Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748-1825) 1787
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 5, 2026 Zec 9:9-10; Ps 14: Rom 8:9,10-13; Mt 11:25-30
They called him a gadfly, a trouble maker He went around the town asking questions and embarrassing others He was getting the attention of the youth And they were listening to him
Socrates lived in Athens, Greece His friend had asked the Oracle at the Temple Delphi if there was anyone wiser than Socrates The Oracle said no one in Athens was as wise as Socrates
Socrates was surprised Because he knew he wasn’t wise So, he began to question the poets, politicians, and scholars to find someone wiser than he He discovered these men were not wise, even though some of them thought they were wise
So, Socrates concluded that the reason the Oracle proclaimed him wise was because he knew that he wasn’t wise
Today, Jesus exclaims, “I give you praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.” (Matt 11:25)
“Jesus is heartened by those who accept him-- simple, humble people who do not trust in their own wisdom, and do not consider themselves to be wise and understanding.” (The Navarre Bible, 86)
He promises to give us rest But how can we rest when he calls us to carry the cross?
The fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary The carrying of the Cross Simon of Cyrene is made to carry the cross of Jesus Jesus couldn’t carry the cross alone Simon of Cyrene was there to help him
I don’t have to carry my cross alone I have Jesus and His Church to help me
A yoke is designed to help the oxen shoulder the load easier A cross is not designed to be carried It is bulky and hard to drag The yoke of Christ makes our burden light
Jesus is calling us all to come to him He will give us rest So let us all take up His yoke and lighten our load “For [his] yoke is easy, and [his] burden is light” (Matt 11: 30)
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Kings 4:8-11; Ps 89; Rom 6:3-4, 8-11; Mt 10:37-42
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt 10)
Jesus doesn’t mince any words He tells it like it is Being a follower of Jesus is a radical commitment Jesus is calling us to love him more than our families
He is asking us to take up his cross and follow him To lose our life To die to ourself
How do we do that? How do I die to myself? When Jesus says our discipleship involves the Cross, what does this mean for you and me?
St. Paul encourages the disciples at Philippi to: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others. Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,*
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:3-8)
Have the same attitude as Christ Jesus Who humbled himself
So how do we become like Jesus? How do we become humble?
The other day I was on my walk around town And I came upon a woman working in her yard I stopped and said hi and we visited a little
She shared we me that she was teaching a Bible class at her church She shared with me that she really liked Mother Teresa’s prayer of humility
Although, I had heard of the Litany of Humility I had not heard of this prayer of humility by Mother Teresa
So, I googled it…. I didn’t find a prayer, but I found a list Saint Mother Teresa’s Humility List
Here it is: 1. Speak as little as possible about yourself.
2. Keep busy with your own affairs and not those of others.
3. Avoid curiosity.
4. Do not interfere with the affairs of others.
5. Accept small irritations with good humor.
6. Do not dwell on the faults of others.
7. Accept censures even if unmerited.
8. Give into the will of others.
9. Accept insults and injuries.
10. Accept contempt, being forgotten and disregarded.
11. Be courteous and delicate even when provoked by someone.
12. Do not seek to be admired and loved.
13. Do not protect yourself behind your own dignity.
14. Give in, in discussions, even when you are right.
15. Choose always the most difficult task.
When we are humble, we put ourself last We put Jesus Christ first And we love our neighbor
We use our gifts for the Glory of God We take up the Cross of Christ And follow him…
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ also known as Corpus Christi
A few years ago, Teague and I were touring Germany about this time of year One Thursday, our tour guide told us that it was a national holiday in Germany, and that many of the stores would be closed The holiday was Corpus Christi
The feast of Corpus Christi is normally celebrated on Thursday following Trinity Sunday I found it interesting that Corpus Christi was still being celebrated as a national holiday in Germany The nation of Germany has become secular The majority of the nation doesn’t practice any type of religion So, I found it interesting that Germany still observed a Catholic solemnity as a holiday
It shows how strong and lasting culture can be At one time Germany was a very Catholic nation Catholic feast days were observed by the entire nation In fact, the feast days were observed all over Europe Today, many Europeans are Catholic in name only And do not practice their faith.
The United States is not a Catholic nation The Feast of Corpus Christi is transferred to Sunday in the United States so more people can participate The American culture is not Catholic Christmas is the only Catholic feast I can think of that the American culture recognizes
It is hard to be Catholic in the American culture The American culture conflicts with Catholic culture often
Here are some examples: Catholics are expected to work on Holy Days School lunchrooms only have a meat option on Fridays during Lent Track meets are run on Good Friday To be Catholic in the United States is to be counter cultural
We can’t change the culture of America overnight But we can influence our own culture We have our own culture here at Sacred Heart and Cristo Redentor
We have fish frys during Lent We sing traditional hymns in our masses We pray the rosary before funerals We celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe We have the the Mexican dance groups, Guadalupanas, Men’s group, Charismatic group, and have had other organizations throughout the years We have the Jamaica fundraiser This church building and the art and decorations are part of our culture
These help us remember Remember where we came from It’s important for us to remember our ancestors Those who came before us Those who built this church
The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is coming in one week This is the feast day of our church We should come together and celebrate this day
For over twenty years, I have seen priests try to bring the parish together and celebrate this day But not many people come I want to encourage you all to come to the feast Come to the mass Come to the dinner after, and celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ Celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Spearman
Cristo Redentor is a part of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Spearman Cristo Redentor is a fruit of the Sacred Heart of Jesus I encourage Cristo Redentor to come and celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus
As we celebrate today the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ We remember Jesus We remember that Jesus is always present We can see His presence in the Eucharist We remember that Jesus is present in the most Holy Body and Blood “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” (Jn 6)
To believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is to be counter cultural To believe that Jesus is present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist is Catholic
Carl is an old friend from college. I still remember him telling me my favorite joke about the three legged dog that walked into the bar. The dog looked at the bartender and said, “Barkeep, all I want to know is who shot my Pa?
Carl called me last fall. He had been going to the Catholic Church. Carl was Catholic, but hadn’t really been to church in quite some time. Anyway, he and his wife had been attending his local church, and his wife was going to OCIA, which stands for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. His wife was Confirmed and came into the Church this past Easter Vigil.
During these past few months, Carl has called or texted a few times to tell me about their journey and all the things he has learned. It is always a blessing to hear from him, and how God is working in his life.
Towards the end of Easter, Carl called me and said, “Winger, I’ve got a story.” It began with him riding around in his pickup listening to Catholic radio. I asked him to write it down, so I’ll let him tell it….
As I recall, I was in the ranch truck heading to Fredericksburg to get feed, most likely coming from our ranch in Harper. I always listen to EWTN, the Catholic station, during the 12:00–2:00 p.m. hour. It has filled the void left by Rush Limbaugh.
A children’s story came over the airwaves — a story about Saint Bega. It ran for several minutes and told of her devotion to God and her interaction with angels. In the background, there was a melody playing softly, almost indistinctly: a violin and harp playing a haunting tune.
It struck me as beautiful.
Several times, I tried to identify the instrumental using the Shazam app on my iPhone, which can recognize songs by listening to them. At least five times it came back as “undiscernible,” perhaps because the music was so faint. Finally, it caught the tune: “Be Thou My Vision.”
I was delighted. I had never heard that hymn before.
I looked it up on my Amazon Music subscription and listened to various artists until I found the version I recognized — the instrumental by the Webb Family.
At the end of the day, back home, I told my wife, Rhesa, about the song. She, a former Baptist, had never heard it either. I told her how beautiful and haunting it sounded to me and said, “I would like that played at my funeral.”
Of course, she looked at me a little sideways.
I then asked her, “Do you think Amy Vorhees, the music director at Saint Mary’s, would know and play this song at a Mass if requested?”
She replied, “You can only ask.”
The week went by. One day I even tried to play it on our piano. I have no musical training, but I managed to bang out a few notes from the opening riff.
Sunday came, and we were headed to the 9:00 a.m. Mass — running a little behind, but still manageable.
We arrived at our front gate, where we can either go left or right toward Fredericksburg. Going left is a bit longer but fully paved. Going right is paved for a while and then turns into a dirt county road. Rhesa had just gotten a new car, and it was spotless.
We sat at the gate briefly discussing which way to go. Finally, I said, “We’re running a little late. Let’s go right. It’s a little dusty, but not bad since we recently had rain.”
So we headed right.
About a mile up the road, we saw a large whitetail buck tangled in our fence, completely suspended off the ground by his antlers, which were caught through the wire. We stopped, and I tried briefly to help him. He was very much alive — struggling and kicking.
Our ranch hand lives nearby, so I contacted him, explained the situation, and asked him to bring a rope.
At first, we decided to continue on to Fredericksburg. But another half mile down the road, I had the feeling he would need help getting the buck free. I told Rhesa, “I need to go back and help.”
We turned around. Rhesa dropped me off and headed back to the house to get another rope.
Shortly thereafter, help arrived. After a brief struggle, we managed to free the buck. He was fine — his antlers a little messed up — but he ran off.
A few minutes later, Rhesa returned, and I got back in the car. By then, though, it was too late to make Mass in Fredericksburg.
We discussed what to do. Rhesa suggested, “Let’s just go to the 11:00 Mass.”
I replied, “That’ll take up most of the day.”
Then she said, “Why don’t we just go to Saint Anthony’s in Harper? It’s closer, and we can still make the 9:00.”
Agreed.
We headed to Harper.
When we arrived, a friendly parishioner greeted us and mentioned that, because it was Mother’s Day, they were having a fish supper and Mass had been moved to 9:30.
We took our seats in the pews and waited. The Rosary was prayed, and then Mass began at 9:30.
The entrance procession began with a hymn. But the very next hymn played in that little church in Harper, Texas, was “Be Thou My Vision.”
I sat there in total amazement, looking over at Rhesa and thinking about how the Holy Spirit works.
When I heard Carl’s story, I just laughed. I told him a similar story that Teague had with a song that she had been thinking about. Carl wondered what the odds were of all these things happening like they did. I told him that I had heard once that there were no coincidences, only God-incidences, and this wasn’t a coincidence. He asked me if he should tell his priest, and I told him for sure he should tell him.
Carl called a few days ago, and I asked him if he had told his priest the story yet. He said, “No, he hadn’t been to see him,” “but he said, “I know what he’s going to say.”
I asked, “What?”
Carl replied that his priest would say, “The Holy Spirit was with you that day!”
