The Happy Priest: Remembering Miracles

The Lord is here. Here, in our little church.

Suddenly he asked me a very interesting question.  "How do you know that Jesus is really present in your parish?"  "The Eucharist, of course", I told Paolo.  Paolo continued, "Yes, but what miracles can you tell me about that give evidence of the Lord's presence?" I knew that Paolo was looking for something much deeper than just a text book answer about the Eucharist.  During my three hour Saturday evening drive back to Corpus Christi, I reflected on Paolo's question.

P align=justify>CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Paolo Zaffaroni is a forty year old Italian business man living in Houston, Texas.  He is a member of the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation and is the leader of Houston's CL community. 

Back in June, during my journey to Italy for the closing events for the Year for Priests, Paolo read one of my Catholic Online articles about Marco Comellini, a young member of the Italian Coast Guard who is associated with Communion and Liberation.  Paolo sent me an email and told me that we needed to meet. 

Last Saturday I had to concelebrate, in a beautiful church in Houston, a wedding Mass with Bishop Daniel Flores of the Brownsville Diocese and three other priests.  Whitney Coley, a former parishioner of mine and James Cueva were married.  Travelling to Houston for the Saturday afternoon wedding, provided the perfect opportunity to meet with Paolo and the other Houston CL members that gathered together at Paolo's lovely home for a beautiful evening of community. 

When Paolo welcomed me at the door of his Houston home, I immediately realized that I was meeting a convinced Christian.  His enthusiasm and joy were evidence to the fact that he had encountered Christ. 

We sat down to have a glass of wine before the other CL guests arrived and he asked me about my background and what I was doing in Corpus Christi, Texas.  I told him about the foundation and development of the newest Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Saint Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church.  

He listened to my story and smiled.  Suddenly he asked me a very interesting question.  "How do you know that Jesus is really present in your parish?"  "The Eucharist, of course", I told Paolo.  Paolo continued, "Yes, but what miracles can you tell me about that give evidence of the Lord's presence?" I thought to myself, "What, is this guy crazy, did he never hear of the Eucharist?" 

I was astonished by his question and it left me grasping for a clear answer.  I knew that Paolo was looking for something much deeper than just a text book answer about the Eucharist. 
As I fumbled around for a few responses, Paolo smiled and we move on to another topic. 

However, during my three hour Saturday evening drive back to Corpus Christi, I reflected on Paolo's question.  Suddenly I was filled with excitement as I came up with a list of four miracles that would definitely affirm the Lord's presence in my parish church. 

Miracle #1: The very fact that we were able to open the doors of a new parish church in March, 2004 is a miracle.  We had to deal with intense spiritual warfare, very little money, the national media filled with reports about scandals within the Catholic Church, the war on terror, and the reality that ninety percent of the Catholics within our parish boundaries do not attend any church at all.  Since we opened our doors, the parish has grown from 30 families to 220 families.  We have had two or three funerals and we are wall to wall babies.  70% of our parishioners are going to confession on a regular basis.  We have established a Family Life Center, a playground and a rectory.  Our goal is to open up a new elementary school with a lot of faith and no money.  That's a miracle for sure. 

Miracle #2:  A young Mexican-American boy, who at that time was around 10 years old, told his parents that he wanted to become a priest.  He said that Jesus called him to the priesthood during our Sunday 6:00 PM Spanish Mass that he always serves as an altar boy.  Eric, now at 13 years old, is still totally convinced that he is going to be a Catholic priest.  That's another miracle for sure. 

Miracle #3:  A young homeschooled boy from Abilene, who at the time was 8 years old, also told his parents that he wanted to become a priest.  He and his family attended one of our daily Masses two years ago, while they were on their summer vacation in the area.  "The entire time during Mass, I felt like God had his arms around me and was calling me", the young boy told me in a beautiful letter.  Like Eric, Cameron is still convinced that God is calling him to be a Catholic priest.  That's another miracle. 

Miracle #4:  Linda, a Filipino nurse, told her friend, also a Filipino nurse, that she needed to come to our parish and pray that she would have a baby.  Linda's friend, after eight years of marriage, suffered deeply because she could not conceive a child.  Linda explained to her friend about the building of the new parish and that we have next to the tabernacle a relic of the Cross of Jesus and a relic of Saint Helena.  "Come on over and pray for a baby."  The woman did and one month later she conceived a little baby boy!  And that is miracle number four.

Father Luigi Giussani's, the Italian founder of Communion and Liberation, method of eliciting reasons for our faith, once again affirmed in my own mind and heart that Lord is really and truly present in my little church.  This re-affirmation and deepening of my faith experience, has filled me with renewed energy and enthusiasm. 

The challenges of being the pastor of a new parish fill me at times with anxiety.  A mortgage has to be paid.  Utility bills have to be paid.  Collections go down when people travel. 

Why should I worry at all? 

The Lord is here.  Here, in our little church. 

Conversions are taking place.  Large numbers of people are returning to the Sacrament of Confession.  Parishioners are receiving Holy Communion with profound devotion.  Babies are being born. 

The empirical evidence is real.  Miracles are happening that give evidence to the miraculous presence of our Lord through the Eucharist. 

There is no need for me to worry, only to celebrate the gift of faith and work even harder for the Kingdom of Christ. 

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Father James Farfaglia, the Happy Priest, is the pastor of Saint Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Father has a hard hitting blog called Illegitimi non carborundum.  He has also published a book called Man to Man: A Real Priest Speaks to Real Men about Marriage, Sexuality and Family Life.  You can contact Father at fjficthus@gmail.com.

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