[NYer]

Father James Farfaglia is Pastor of St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas. Originally from Ridgefield, Connecticut, Father has founded and developed apostolates for the Catholic Church in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Canada and throughout the United States. He may be reached by email at Icthus@GoCcN.org.

[Tax-chick]

Great article!

[NYer]

I too have been called "Father" by the thousands and thousands of people that I have provided for, nourished, and educated for more than eighteen years as a priest. It is my vocation to celibate fatherhood that allows me to stretch my heart and give of myself unconditionally with joy and love each day with renewed commitment and dedication.

This poignant reminder of our pastor's role truly struck home today. This past week, my pastor flew half way round the globe to visit his family, to baptize a new nephew, console a friend on the loss of a loved one, and attend to some personal matters. As a Maronite priest, it is impossible to find another priest to say the Maronite liturgy in his absence. As a pastor, he watches over and cares for all of us. He postponed this trip for more than 1 year in order to find a substitute priest to say the Latin Mass for his Maronite congregation. The last time he went away, many in the congregation did not come to church. The suggestion that perhaps he sould simply assign us to a RC parish in his absence was met with a resounding "No!" He would not leave until he had provided for his congregation.

This priest gives 1000% of himself throughout the year. He does not own a set of golf clubs, but he does have a ladder and we have had to call the bishop to get him down from the roof at both our current and future parish. He counsels, guides, sacrifices and pulls us all together as a family. The greatest tribute we can pay him is to come together to worship with the priest he chose to be our 'pastor' during his absence. And so today, we celbrated the Feast of Corpus Christi, replete with Maronite chants and hymns, much to the pleasure of Fr. Barker who delivered a beautiful homily and spent time with us afterwards, sipping coffee and delighting in the refreshments offered.

Thank you, Abouna, for the love of Christ that you have shared with us. And thank you Fr. Barker for stepping into his shoes and serving as our pastor for the next few weeks. Happy Father's Day to you both!

[the invisib1e hand]

Lord, grant me the grace to celebrate this Mass as if it were my first Mass, my only Mass, and my last Mass.”

I love this.

At the risk of sounding trite, I was watching the Yankees the other day, and it dawned on me that they play each inning as though it is the first, and each as though it is the last. I couldn't find any other words to describe it. If they're behind 10-1 in the 5th, they don't slouch through the rest of the game, defeated. They play the inning at hand as if it is the first, the last, the only.

So nice to see that a Pope practiced this essense; it validates my observation that this practice is indeed the practice of champions.