DAY OF THE DOVE

May is my favorite month for two reasons.

First, it is Mary's month. I have fond memories of honoring her on May 7 in my grade school days at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School. Why May 7? We were taught by the good Venerini Sisters, and the 7th was the day Blessed Rosa Venerini, foundress of the order, died in 1728. Today, she is St. Rosa Venerini, having been canonized recently by Pope Benedict XVI. On May 7, the school gathered to honor the Blessed Mother and Blessed Rosa in a joint ceremony, two for the price of one. I can still see Susan McCabe, on whom I had a crush, being chosen to crown the statue of Our Lady. In our school, there was no higher honor.

Second, May is a month of smells. Out on the lower 40, the ranch air wafted with a heady mixture of lilacs, Lilies of the Valley, mown grass, and the fragrance of new life sprouting. From the herb garden, I picked two redolent slivers of chive - one onion, one garlic - the flavor bursting in my mouth like an organic explosion. Look all around you. Take a walk in nature. Find some morels. Breath. Do that and tell me there is no God.


DAY OF THE DOVE, Pt. I

Impossible, Except for God - Imagine God Himself entering your body. Imagine Him being in you, suffusing the divine into your humanity made in His "image and likeness." The providential Presence melts into the "image and likeness" like a measure of milk added to a glass of water. The milk moves its way through the clear liquid, saturating it with soft whiteness. It does so gently, surely, without need of stirring. The water takes on the alabaster color. There is no way of telling one from the other, they have mixed so thoroughly. Imagine God inside of you in this way, for that's how it is. ...

... only you don't have to imagine it! At conception - your being absolutely unique among the approximately 150 billion people who have ever lived - His image and likeness stamped itself on you and in you. You were treated to the most intense spiritual moment of your life, which nothing will ever equal except your death. Having no language, no thought, and no human consciousness, you were infused with The Word, which thought of you and brought you into being through your mother and your father.

If you think about it, this creation of a new life is no less miraculous as virgin birth. If anything, it may be even harder to believe. After all at the Incarnation, God as Holy Spirit came upon Mary directly as part of a Plan. You and I, on the other hand, were products of a mathematically impossible set of odds that, if left to chance, statistically could not have happened. Trace back your line of ancestors as far as it will go, and realize that long before the point where you lose track, countless generations preceded. And if ONE couple does not meet in that entire sequence, you do not come into existence.

God Stuff - You are God Stuff, literally. At Baptism, the Holy Spirit is awakened in you as God's consciousness beginning the slow process of entering yours. This dawning awareness of God blossoms as you grow up. God does this slowly and holds back, mostly, for the compassionate reason that no one is ready (on earth, at least) to behold even a fraction of the Divine Body and Being. At Confirmation, where presumably the child has maturing aspects of body, mind, spirit, and soul, the Holy Spirit comes again as the boy or girl makes the conscious choice to recognize his divine origin. That's what Confirmation is - a person's acceptance of his true identity as a child of God and the willingness to live with an according responsibility.

But in life, many things can distract us, can intervene, and can draw our attention away from who we are. Young people especially walk a veritable minefield of distraction (in the form of pop culture and the dreadful cult of faux celebrity, as but two examples) whose end result, if the person is not careful, hides that true identity. Next thing you know, the person, regardless of what he or she claims in word, lives the life of a non-believer. It's not that the person "doesn't believe in God;" it's that he or she doesn't believe in him or herself, which makes for the indirect denial of God. From there, it's but a formality to dispense entirely of Life in the Spirit. Despite what they may say, such people are de facto atheists. An atheist denies the existence of God because he has failed to confirm that existence in himself. It has nothing to do with what one calls oneself or what label others slap on him.

Fortunately, in the case of young people, this too is often nothing but a phase. They will move on, but the question is to what: to another distraction, or to their home in the Divine Body?

Fear Not, But Simply Trust - Short of outright denial, believers can lose their faith by becoming tepid and lukewarm. This case of the "blahs" makes of their faith a rut and their spiritual practices something they fall into almost robotically. They are toy trains going around and around on a circular set of tracks: nothing different, same scenery, same start, same destination. All of us need to find ways to we keep our identities as God Stuff shining, glistening fresh.

If your spiritual life is that Lionel train going nowhere, you need an act of sabotage. Blow up a section of the tracks. Send that train crashing off onto the parlor floor. Then you will have to rebuild. Granted, keeping spirituality exciting is something we have to work at, and it can be tough work, but it's work that rewards like no other. We each have different ways of renewing our faith lives, and part of a person's task is to find out what works and what doesn't. The Spirit will lead you into these ways and byways. Fear not, but simply trust.

It's exciting to see people making this attempt at conscious renewal. It can't help but be inspiring, which is why I can't help be but elevated by what took place at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy on Saturday, May 19. On the second day of the novena to Pentecost, on the 139th day of the year, a pair of doves landed at the bird feeder of my backyard. Less than half a mile away, the Holy Spirit landed upon Eden Hill. The Day of the Dove had descended.


DAY OF THE DOVE, Part 2

'Very Joyful, Very Open' - Day of the Dove is the name Fr. Anthony Gramlich, MIC, adopted for the one-day "Life in the Spirit Retreat" held on Eden Hill Saturday at the Shrine. Fr. Anthony, shrine rector, led the retreat in an all-day immersion in renewal. About 50 people attended.

I caught up with Fr. Anthony at 5:30 p.m. during a barbecue break in the day's schedule. The retreat had nine hours under its belt by then.

"The day has been very joyful, very open," said Fr. Anthony. "People are learning about the Holy Spirit. I'm learning." Asked what he, a priest, could be learning from laypeople, he replied, "How God is working in people's lives. How God speaks to them and directs them. It's proof to me that the Church is alive." Fr. Anthony gave three talks, the first on the charismatic renewal, the second on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the third on Baptism in the Holy Spirit, which took place later during a three-hour Holy Hour and Benediction (Mass was celebrated at 4 p.m.) at the National Shrine.

"Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a renewal of our spiritual lives that we received at Baptism and at Confirmation," Fr. Anthony said. "This new baptism brings to us the gifts we received from the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation. It's sometimes easy to become lulled into sleep in one's faith life. Baptism in the Spirit is a way to do what Jesus at several points asks of us: wake up."

Father Anthony likened Baptism in the Holy Spirit to a room that's wired for electricity.

"Just because the room is wired doesn't mean it will produce light," he said. "Someone needs to come in and flick the switch. That's how we are. We are wired with these gifts, but to get their light, we need to turn the switch from "off" to "on" That's what we're doing here today."

'Our Fearless Leader' - As I conducted my interview with Fr. Anthony, we had both just finished chowing down. Retreat members were invited to join in a barbecue dinner to honor volunteers who weathered near-impossible conditions on Divine Mercy Sunday to make the day run smoothly. It was a veritable feast. We enjoyed grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, broccoli and grape salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, carrot salad, potato chips, watermelon, carrot cake, and a range of beverages from bottled water to sodas to iced tea. Man does not live by bread alone, which is another way of saying man lives by bread, too.

During my visit to the retreat itself and with observations of and conversations with retreat members and workers, it became obvious that Fr. Anthony had an unqualified success on his hands. I stepped back and tried to assess what I had been seeing. The Day of the Dove retreat was clearly a ministry of love put on by a wise shrine rector, who had the spiritual insight to bring this great day back. We should add here that Fr. Anthony is also the chaplain of the charismatic Mother of The Divine Mercy prayer group, which meets at the National Shrine each Thursday night. This young priest knows about renewal. "He is our fearless leader," said one of the group's members.

So we take a moment here to acknowledge this great decision by a driven priest who has a lot of joy and a vibrant spirit.

'He Allowed the Holy Spirit to Run this Retreat' - "Father Anthony is happy," said a prayer group member who was part of the music ministry that provided songs for Day of the Dove. "He is peaceful, and that's the Holy Spirit working in him. He's very enthusiastic about this movement. Let's put it this way. He's been our chaplain for three years. He's brought teachings, enthusiasm, and true spiritual joy. I think Fr. Anthony has a lot of light and is very Christ centered. He's got that energy about him. He's young, enthusiastic, and in love with God, his Church, and his congregation. He's caring and supportive. He also has the gift of laughter, among other gifts."

Marley, from Newburgh, N.Y., and one of the retreat participants, said he has been to many Life in the Spirit retreats, but Day of the Dove has far surpassed any of the other ones. Why? He said he "felt a freedom" come upon him. "That's because Fr. Anthony didn't stifle the Spirit." As another attendee put it, "He [Fr. Anthony] allowed the Holy Spirit to run the retreat."

Strike Up the Band - The Music Ministry performed brilliantly, setting the tone for this exciting day. "Band" members included Emma Daigle, music director of St. Peter's Church in nearby Gt. Barrington, Mass.; Evelyn Wallace, and Paula Valenti. The music even spilled over into the barbecue.

'The Dove is Alive' - The day ended not on a Rocky Mountain High but an Eden Hill High. Yes, from my observers in the field and my own two glazzies, I can report, my dear friends, that The Baptism of the Spirit DID occur. It happened.

On Eden Hill, the Day of the Dove dawned then descended. The Dove lavished His gifts upon the people. "Everybody received a gift," said Someone Who Was There. "God leaves nobody out." Rest assured, my dear friends, the Dove is alive! I've often felt that the Holy Spirit has been the forgotten member of the Trinity. Well, not on this past Saturday.

True story. This morning when I got up, I looked out back. A group of about 20 red-spotted blackbirds were feeding along with several blue jays ... and two doves. The doves have been there every morning since Friday. I think it's been the same pair. They stay close to each other.

A noise startled the birds. All flew away, except the doves. They stood there, cooing, slipping into the envelopes of their bodies, His goodness to proclaim.

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