By Phoenix journalist Ceili Donnelly ’20:
After a cross country meet in Pennsylvania all day on Saturday, my parents and I decided to stay overnight at a hotel in New Jersey. On Sunday morning my mom and I would take the train back to New York, while my dad would drive down to North Carolina, where he works during the week, so that he could have a car with him. We got back to New York around noon, when I had a two-hour session with my SAT tutor. Since I hadn’t been home all weekend, I was feeling extremely stressed about getting all of my homework and studying done, along with going to five o’clock Mass, which I had forgotten about until then.
After my SAT tutoring session I ate lunch, and then got right to work on my homework and studying, because I knew it would be quite late by the time I got home from Mass, had dinner and showered. Time passed quickly though, and by the time I had to leave for Mass, I felt like I had gotten nothing done and was beginning to feel more and more overwhelmed, to the point where I didn’t even want to go to Mass.
As usual, we arrived at Church about two minutes after Mass started, while everyone was standing as Msgr. Vlaun said the introductory rites. My mom kneeled down in prayer, while I remained standing to say a silent prayer to myself, because I always get self-conscious being even a little late to Mass, and that feeling is compounded if I’m the only one kneeling while everyone else is standing.
During Mass, I tried my best to focus on the hymns and readings, but the pressure of all the schoolwork and SAT work I had to get done kept weighing down on my shoulders; that is until the priest began to read the Gospel. It discussed how John came to Jesus and told him that someone who was not a follower of Him was casting out demons in His name and Jesus’ followers had tried to stop him. Jesus told John that if someone is doing something in His name, that person cannot speak ill of Him at the same time, for, “whoever is not against us is for us.” Jesus goes on to tell his followers that if their hand, foot, or eye causes them to sin, they must cut it off or pluck it out, because it is better to have Eternal Life in Heaven with only one of those things than to go to Hell with both. This particular Gospel drew my attention because I always found it to be a bit odd and illogical that Jesus was telling his followers to harm themselves so that they may enter into Heaven.
Then, when Msgr. Vlaun clarified Jesus’ meaning, I understood this Gospel for the first time in my life. This Gospel seems counterintuitive, somehow contradicting Jesus’ usual Gospel message. While the other Gospels call us as followers of Christ to be good, kind, loving people, this one also calls us to be prophets of Christ, and spread not only Jesus’ word, but the meaning of that word.
Msgr. Vlaun emphasized that God must always be put above everything else in our lives, regardless of how burdened we may feel, because He is the only one who can relieve us of those burdens. He carries us when we are at our weakest and walks beside us when we need a friend. Jesus reminds us not to allow our own bodily and emotional desires to prevent us from doing what is right.
It was as though this Gospel and homily were especially meant for me that day. While I was sitting next to my mom in my pew, contemplating everything I would have to do as soon as I got home from Mass, I was called to re-center my life on Christ, rather than all of the stresses of my everyday life. I felt as if Msgr. Vlaun was speaking directly to me when he said “not to let the ‘thingdom’ get in the way of the kingdom (of Heaven).” I was reminded not to let the “thingdom” of schoolwork, SAT preparation, cross country, and various other things to get in the way of living my life to be the best possible Catholic I can be by doing things such as going to Mass, as I almost let it that weekend.