Sacred Heart Church, Wadsworth, Ohio
I grew up in this parish, so it is always a blessing to come back here. I always feel like a missionary sent forth from this congregation. It was here I learned my faith.
This was the designated "Children's Mass", so there were grundles of young shiny faces dressed in their Christmas best and a Christmas Pagent to boot, complete with angels and shepherds, Mary and Joseph. As in all Catholic Churches, there is never enough room on Christmas Eve for the faithful. So we filled the sanctuary with the kids and that freed up enough enough room for everyone to get in the doors at least. It was also a lot more fun with people filling the rafters.
It was also a great opportunity to preach to the kids, with them all around and all. I had their rapt attention of course, until my nephew Leo decided that he'd had enough and headed for the hills (or his dad who was directing traffic over by the choir).
Here are two of the little angels from the pagent. My brother Brian took all these shots. He has a good eye for "cuter than the Dickens".
These two shots are perhaps redundant, but too good to throw away. They seem to capture the essence of my preaching. In the first you can see that some listen, some don't. That's my nephew Leo facing the camera, deciding that this just isn't exciting enough and looking for something better. My hand is out, inviting. I don't remember what I was saying, but in some way I am always saying the same thing - inviting people to come to God and trying to help them see his open hand.
This is the way I always feel presiding here at Sacred Heart. I grew up here in this midwestern paradise. There is life here, young families and multiple generations all together, coming to praise God and maybe to hear his word. The halos on the children in the foreground reveal their true hearts and I sit in amazement of the whole thing, incredulous that I am allowed to be a part of it.