Mass in Spain...sort of!

Our first port stop has come and gone!  We made a BSF (brief stop for fuel) in Rota, Spain yesterday.  Thanks to the efforts of our awesome command chaplain, he was able to arrange for the local base Catholic chaplain to pay us a visit during the day while we refueled.  It was such a joy, and actually unexpected—we’d been having some issues with email and his visit wasn’t confirmed until he showed up on the ship!  When the word was passed of his arrival and of when Mass would be, I dropped everything I was doing (quite willingly, mind you) and even got out of a painful weekly meeting that was about to occur.  Priorities, people!!! 

Fr. Jerome Dillon, CDR, USN, was our visiting priest—he is a diocesan priest from Omaha, Nebraska, and had been serving as a Navy chaplain for 27 years, getting ready to retire from the Navy.  We had a great chat, and I was able to go to confession and then we had Mass.  I wish I had brought my camera so you could see what Mass is like on a warship!  Father had his “battle chaplain” kit, filled with only the necessary sacristy items to properly say Mass.  Simplicity.  Needless to say, it was beautiful.  To know that our Lord made Himself present, sacramentally, here on this ship, has brought a refreshed attitude to how I can best conquer my moments of feeling down when the environment around here gets the best of me.  This place is sanctified, it is holy, just because He came here.  Cue David Crowder Band’s The Glory of it All <http://www.lyricsmania.com/the_glory_of_it_all_lyrics_david_crowder_band.html> !

Other great point of Rota—though we didn’t have time for liberty there, we were visited by a Baskin Robbins truck and pizza delivery on the pier.  Oh, the little comforts of home! 

Finally, in light of being in Spain, I want to share with you a quote that is at the heart of my meditation right now.  Tough words, as usual, from my heavenly spiritual director and native Spaniard, Saint Josemaria Escriva:  “Here, we don’t bargain with the Lord.  The Law of God, the invitation of the Lord, is something you either take or leave, just as it is.  You need to make up your mind: go forward, fully decided and without holding back; otherwise, go away.”

 

 

 

Mass in Spain...sort of!

Our first port stop has come and gone!  We made a BSF (brief stop for fuel) in Rota, Spain yesterday.  Thanks to the efforts of our awesome command chaplain, he was able to arrange for the local base Catholic chaplain to pay us a visit during the day while we refueled.  It was such a joy, and actually unexpected—we’d been having some issues with email and his visit wasn’t confirmed until he showed up on the ship!  When the word was passed of his arrival and of when Mass would be, I dropped everything I was doing (quite willingly, mind you) and even got out of a painful weekly meeting that was about to occur.  Priorities, people!!! 

Fr. Jerome Dillon, CDR, USN, was our visiting priest—he is a diocesan priest from Omaha, Nebraska, and had been serving as a Navy chaplain for 27 years, getting ready to retire from the Navy.  We had a great chat, and I was able to go to confession and then we had Mass.  I wish I had brought my camera so you could see what Mass is like on a warship!  Father had his “battle chaplain” kit, filled with only the necessary sacristy items to properly say Mass.  Simplicity.  Needless to say, it was beautiful.  To know that our Lord made Himself present, sacramentally, here on this ship, has brought a refreshed attitude to how I can best conquer my moments of feeling down when the environment around here gets the best of me.  This place is sanctified, it is holy, just because He came here.  Cue David Crowder Band’s The Glory of it All!

Other great point of Rota—though we didn’t have time for liberty there, we were visited by a Baskin Robbins truck and pizza delivery on the pier.  Oh, the little comforts of home! 

Finally, in light of being in Spain, I want to share with you a quote that is at the heart of my meditation right now.  Tough words, as usual, from my heavenly spiritual director and native Spaniard, Saint Josemaria Escriva:  “Here, we don’t bargain with the Lord.  The Law of God, the invitation of the Lord, is something you either take or leave, just as it is.  You need to make up your mind: go forward, fully decided and without holding back; otherwise, go away.”

 

Live Jesus!

“O world!  O abominable troop!  No, never shall you see me beneath your banner!  I have forever abandoned your mad, fruitless ways.  King of pride, accursed king, infernal spirit, I renounce you and all your empty pomps!  I detest you and all your works.  I turn to you, my own Jesus, king of happiness and eternal glory, and I embrace you with all the strength of my soul.  I adore you with my whole heart.  I choose you to be my King now and forever.  By this inviolable act of fidelity I pay you irrevocable homage. I submit myself to your holy laws and ordinances.  O holy Virgin, my beloved Lady, I choose you for my guide. I put myself under your direction and offer you particular respect and special reverence.  My guardian angel, present me to this assembly.  Do not forsake me until I have been enrolled in this blessed company.  With them I say and I will say forever in testimony to my choice: Live, Jesus! Live, Jesus!”

A great prayer and challenge for me as we complete our first week at sea.  St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!

Come Away and Rest

Today’s gospel gives us some advice that I am in a great position to follow through with.  Our Lord tells his apostles, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest for a while.”  Then, coincidentally, they all “went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.”  Sounds pretty familiar to me!

There is a great need, particularly in the go-go-go nature of our society, for people to rest.  And I mean REALLY rest.  I had the great opportunity to take about 16 days of leave before my deployment—the most consecutive leave days I’d ever taken in the Navy, by the way—and I challenged myself to really rest.  Usually when I’d make a visit home, I’d sure be resting, but I’d still have the TV on all the time, computer on and music playing throughout the day, etc.  Still seemingly busy, still distracted.  This time around, I tried not to fall into that trap.  Instead, I planned and cooked a meal for my family nearly every night, spent some quality time with my mom and dad, both together and respectively, was able to make it to daily Mass (a rare treat for me!), and spent most afternoons sitting out by the pool in silence (in beautiful 70 degree weather, nonetheless!).  Safe to say, it was real rest.  Rest for my soul.  Not just rest because I was sleeping a full night, not just rest because I was off the ship and away from work, but genuine rest.

I can’t say that what I am doing out here on the high seas is completely restful all the time, because it certainly isn’t.  In light of today being a Sunday, I can share that one tradition we try our best to adhere to is to have “holiday routine” on Sundays.  If there aren’t any major events or operations going on, we really get to rest: no meetings, no drills, etc, and besides your time to stand watch, you get to have what society would call your “me time,” which I prefer to call “God’s time.”  J  Today, our first Sunday of deployment, was indeed holiday routine, and has indeed been restful.  These restful Sundays will become more and more important and more and more cherished as deployment goes on.

Today’s psalm (from Psalm 23) said, “Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.”  The seas out here are currently rolling and gentle, not tumultuous at all.  And my soul is refreshed today.  My prayer is that our seas remain restful, and that our Lord continue to refresh my soul as I answer His call to set out into the deep.

Haze Grey and Underway

Haze grey and underway!  Deployment 2012 has begun.  The past 48 hours have been ones of great emotion as the crew enjoyed those last moments with their families and those little things we all love about home.  It wasn’t until I woke up this morning that it finally hit me that today was the day.  A bit of uneasiness as I packed my final things from my house quickly melted away as I stepped onboard and felt the energy of my shipmates and the pulse of a ship ready to do what we’ve been trained to do.

 

This morning, the ship was crawling with families.  Many former crewmembers that are still in the local area came to the pier to offer their good wishes.  It is quite a sight to watch the goodbyes, waves, and tears from the families left on the pier as the last mooring line came on deck and the Boatswain’s Mate announces, “Underway!  Shift Colors!”  We did our best to keep focus and get the ship safely to sea.

 

I’m reflecting this evening on what those words really mean from the Gospel, to set out “into the deep”…duc in altum.   What kind of sailor only wants to stay close to their home shores?  We’d not consider them a true sailor at all!  In the same regard, what kind of Christian only wants to stay in “shallow waters” and live merely “comfortably” in their spiritual lives?  God needs Christians who are willing to set out into the deep, just as he directed the apostles at the lake of Gennesaret.  We may give excuses (like Peter), “We have worked all night and caught nothing!”  But beyond our human tendency to doubt, to worry, to fear--we have to, in faith, respond as Peter did, by putting out into the deep and lowering our nets at our Master’s command.  What else are we to do?  Say “no” to our Lord’s advice??  Just as I desire to be a true sailor by proving my seamanship and setting out into deep waters, I desire even more to be a true Christian by proving my faith in His word, trusting despite my hesitations.  Discomfort?  Difficulties?  Unclear future?  Bring it. 

 

Our generation is being asked to set out into deep waters, deeper than ever before.  The waters are uncharted and are most certainly in harm’s way, with persecutions essentially promised to us.  Luckily, our ship is the fastest and best on the seas.  With the Church as our ship, the Body of Christ as her crew, led by the Bishops as our officers, commanded by the Holy Father, our Captain, we can carry out the mission of God’s kingdom to propose Jesus Christ to a world greatly in need of hope.  Time to get underway.  Don’t be the one left behind.

 

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go into harm’s way.”

~John Paul Jones, 1778

Test Blog via Email

Just testing this great feature of posting a blog via email. This will work wonders when I face the bandwidth battle at sea!

Lament

I'm Mary and I'm Martha all at the same time
I'm sitting at His feet and I'm dying to be recognized
I am the picture of contentment and I am dissatisfied
Why is it easy to work but hard to rest sometimes


I'm restless and I rustle like a thousand tall trees
I'm twisted and I'm turning in an endless daydream
You wrestle me at night and I wake in search of You
Try as I might, but I just can't catch You, but I want to
Cause I need You, yeah I need You, I can't catch You, but I want to


Oh how long, how long until I'm home
Cause I'm so tired, so tired of running
Oh how long, until You come for me
Cause I'm so tired, so tired of running


Audrey Assad - Lament

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.