~by Susi Pittman

One of my greatest joys over the past few years has been to attend the Traditional Latin Mass here in Jacksonville. We had a Bishop who insured that it continued through the years and there are hearts that are eternally grateful to him for that.

I currently attend the Latin Mass at the historical St. Josephs Church, which has been preserved in beautiful original condition. Being in the sanctuary of this Church takes me back to being eight years of age again and attending my first Mass with my grandmother.

Father Darius Sleszynski is our usual priest and he delivers the most beautiful homilies, filled with such truths and beauty, admonitions and reconciliation. His words fall on my ears with such power in this sacred space. And the quiet and reverence with which the Eucharist is worshipped and received allows me to immerse in the wholeness and healing that only Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity brings.

This past Sunday was the Third Sunday after Pentecost. Our missal prefaced the Mass with this:

The Lord does not forsake those who seek him, and the more unhappy or sinful they are the more he watches over them. This Mass is full of cries for help and expressions of trust.

So many today are in distress over some things that seem beyond their abilities to handle or cope with. Words like these remind us that God does not leave us orphans. Being prepared to celebrate the Eucharistic feast by these words opened my heart to the balm of heavenly healing that the words of Father Darius would speak. He said that everyone of us is given a mission by God. Realizing that “mission” is you and God working together through prayer to discover it. He also said that every one of us has a “cross” attached to us. Realizing that in this life if we walk with Jesus, we will not only walk in His joy but, in His sufferings too.

I have probably heard this spoken of times before now, but, for some reason it was a profound moment. Each soul has a mission-a talk and a cross-a walk! Pretty simple when you think about it.

It makes me remember that in order to receive authentic Christian blessings, I must be willing to embrace the trials and tribulations that “purify” my “self” and move me into “selflessness.” Too many times I have seen the word Christian touted as being some magical word that means God wants you to be rich, God wants you to have everything you want, God wants you to revel in YOUR personal glories. NOTE the “you” and “your.” I see that as being humanistic to the extreme.

If we believe what we say in the Our Father, the perfect prayer that Jesus taught us to say as He enjoined us to Himself so that we could call God, Father, we are to embrace;

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

That is the road to heaven. That we meet OUR FATHER on our road in life, discover through prayerful union our mission for HIM and accept the cross that HE asks us to carry as a way of purifying our souls for the journey HOME.

To talk the talk, we must walk the walk.

And it is nothing about SELF and is all about SELFLESSNESS.

O God, protector of those who trust in you, without you nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase yet more your mercy towards us, that under your rule and guidance we may so pass through this world’s joys as not to lose those of eternity.

Susi Pittman is founder of CatholicStewardsofCreation.com and Owner-President of Twin Oaks Publishing; she is author of Animals in Heaven? Catholics Want to Know!; an advocate for the Florida Catholic Conference; a member of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Council of Women in Jacksonville, Florida; an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Augustine;a member of the Florida Publishers Association, Independent Book Publishers Association, the National Association of Professional Women, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States and the National Audubon society.