GO CLIMB A TREE                                                                     By:  Anna Mancini

            During this, our Jubilee Year, many events have taken place with a few more to come and so it was most appropriate that the annual Day of Renewal/Recommitment for Lectors and Eucharistic Ministers was held on our own holy and sacred grounds. At 9:00 A.M. on Saturday, Oct. 6^th, the aforementioned ministers gathered at the Gazebo for an eye-opening cup of coffee/tea while munching on delicious goodies, which, as always, were provided by Dominick Benvenuto.

            The hour was too short a time for all our greetings to one another, but then again, time is always too short when one exchanges the Love of God through embraces, kisses and oh, those smiles of welcome. But we were soon invited to process to the church auditorium where Mary Indelicato, coordinator of the Eucharistic Ministers, formally welcomed us. She then proceeded to discuss some aspects of our ministry, some with regard to our service at Mass and others with regard to our homebound parishioners. After this, Mary introduced Anna Rose Regan and Primo Fiore, coordinators of the Lectors. Observations from both were expressed to their respective members and from all that was said by Mary, Anna Rose and Primo, there was no doubt that, under their guidance, we, who are blest to be serving, are in good hands.

            After this, Mary introduced our guest speaker - our very own Fr. Lee Descoteaux. (Whenever yours truly heard his homilies at Mass, they always left me with a "Think about it!" aspect -whether it be my relationship with God, family or friends.) So it was that Fr. Lee reminded us of the story of Zacchaeus, who was a tax-collector and much hated because of his excessive levy of taxes on the people (Wow! 2000 years later and it's still the same!!! Ha! Ha!).

            Well, the story goes on that one day Jesus was coming to Zacchaeus' neck of the woods and since Zacchaeus heard so much about him, he wanted to see him. But, along with many things, Zacchaeus was short and when he saw the large crowd, he knew he would not be able to see Jesus, so - he climbed a tree! As Jesus neared the tree, He stopped, looked up and said, "Zacchaeus... come down, for tonight,... for I am going to be a guest in your home tonight!"

            So many chores to do, so many appointments to keep, so many commitments - and soon we can't see above these "tall" responsibilities. We start to feel as if we are losing touch with who we are and what we want to be - and maybe this is the time to "climb a tree"? "This is the time," Fr. Lee, counseled, "that we must rise above the "crowd" of things to do." Jesus is always with us, always near us, waiting for us to acknowledge Him, but because of the stressful world in which we live, we sometimes find ourselves so overwhelmed that we lose ourselves in the crowd.

            Yes, as Fr. Lee counseled, we must make time for ourselves and our relationship to Jesus, and yes, we have to climb that tree which allows us to retreat and "get away" from the world around us, to make sure we have our feet firmly planted on that right road during our journey of faith.

            In the past, whenever I've had the privilege of sharing with you the events of a special day, I have always confessed that I could never do justice to comments, insights and suggestions expressed by the beautiful people who share their faith with us. So, it is that I apologize to whomever, but with so much joy in my heart, I give thanks to Mary, Primo, Anna Rose and Fr. Lee for their most constructive and inspirational words of love.

            We continued our day with the formation of small groups, reflecting and sharing our personal experiences in deepening our relationship with the Lord. These love-ins only confirm that we are not alone in our quest.  Even though lunch time was announced, we were reluctant to end these exchanges. We were reminded, however, that after lunch, some quiet time would be allotted and we could, if we so desired, continue with our discussions. This "quiet time" was the next-to-the last tier on our cake of new life, preparing us for the icing on that cake - our concluding Celebration of the Eucharist.

            Fr. Frank Gaeta, our pastor, celebrated this love-feast with great joy, first, as he always does, thanking us for our service and then, reminding us that we have a special role in the priesthood of Christ. Each one of us knows that we are not special, but rather, that we are privileged to have been called to these special ministries. And so, we renewed our commitment and applauded those who were newly-commissioned that day. A day on which we were able to climb a little higher on our personal tree, seeing a little further and a little clearer.

Praise God!