Reflections from Justin, Sacraments, Community, and The Face of God

Nine months ago today a Maryland State Trooper visited our house. It was noon on a Monday, moments that are branded, white-hot on our hearts.

I am trying to sort through the banker’s boxes in the living room this morning, it is slow work. Justin’s much loved felines try to help. Time has become my enemy, so much to do and so little time. Progress is slowed even further by the advent of tears, it is so hard to see through murky glasses. This is work that cannot be hurried, one does not simply box up or discard a life.

I  do not want some of these boxes too far away, they hold treasures, glimpses of a rich, thoughtful life.  I think I shall let Justin share his thoughts today from an undated writing titled:

“Reflections….Sacraments, Community and the Face of God”

“A sacrament has been described as an outward sign of an inward reality. This concept of an outward sign reflecting an inward reality can be seen in a Christian community, on the faces of the believers.

When I was speaking with my dear friend Maria the other day, I told her about Fr. Brian, a priest at St. John’s. When I described his presence, I realized a second later that a capital “H” belong there!  HIS Presence – Christ. When you are with someone who believes, you can feel it. You can see it on their faces. I am always reminded of a friend I had at Steubenville. When she sang, her face was transformed. The presence of Christ in a believer is a tangible, outward sign of an inward reality.”

Justin must have written this about five or six years ago, that would have put him at only 20 years old or so. The priest he speaks of so fondly is Fr. Brian Nolan of the Archdiocese of Baltimore is now Chaplain at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD.  How grateful I am for the many good and holy priests that showed Justin the face of Christ, that shared their time, their joy, their love of the Church, who continue to pray and intercede for his soul.