IF your town still has a newspaper, and IF you still get it,
and IF on Sunday they still have the Parade Magazine (will someday I have to
explain what a magazine was to kids?) this past weekend you would have seen an
article about Mark Wahlberg. The short
article is under a weekly feature called, “Sunday With . . .” In it, they interview a famous person and
there is at least one question that they ask every week: “How do you spend
Sunday?”
Week after week after week I read this feature paying
particular attention if it is a person whose work I like, just hoping that one
of them would say that they somehow gave thanks for their talent, their wealth,
their notoriety, or the fact that anybody cares that what they do on
Sunday. But week after week after week
it is usually something along the lines of, “We sleep in. Then I make pancakes. We lounge around the house or go shopping or
to the zoo.” Not even a “we help out in
a soup kitchen.” Sunday, for many, seems
to be “Me Day.” I don’t have to work so
we spend time on ourselves. On the one
hand that is good. (I try for some me
time myself on Sunday if it is available.)
But there is not even a mention of, “and we say grace remembering that
everything is a gift.”
Then there is Mr. Wahlberg, former crack-addict, prisoner,
Calvin Klein model, rapper, current actor and father. Here is how he describes his Sunday;
“If the kids are good, I’ll have doughnuts for them at 6:30
in the morning,” (Note: 6:30 in the morning
– ready for his kids. I have just started thinking about becoming
functional at that time – he’s already got doughnuts for the kids and I have
Mass!) “and I say, ‘You guys gotta let Mommy sleep in!” DO YOU KNOW WHY HE DOES THIS?! BECAUSE THEN: “I’ll go to church” (read:
Mass) “at 7:30 and everybody will be eating breakfast when I come home.” Nice right?
Hold on to your biretta friends for the next sentence. “Then
we’ll go to church again at 10:30. .
.”
Okay, maybe he’s making up for some of his famous peers who
forget to mention anything outside of themselves as a Sunday activity. But still: he’s once again proven himself one
of my heroes. (If you hear that he kicks
his dog or lets his kids eat Cheerios at Mass, please don’t tell me. I need my heroes.) But it just goes to show you how much good
you can do. He isn’t pictured waving a
Vatican flag or preaching (apparently like I am) about what people should do if
they consider themselves faithful, he was asked a question and he answered
honestly. It led to a second question by
the interviewer, “Faith is obviously a big part of your life.” Which, in retrospect is not a question but a
statement. But he answered
none-the-less, “It’s the most important part of my life.”
There. Very matter of
fact. No preaching (in the negative
sense) and no theatrics. And he did a
world of good for Catholics that need a shot in the arm. Thank you Mr. Wahlberg. I hope more of us can follow your example.
(And we have dooughnut Sunday here.)
2 comments:
That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.
But if you live in the Diocese of Cleveland, Sundays are for CYO sports (with a brief nod to Mass times by starting a little later in the day). And don't forget the CYO athletic tournaments that are regularly scheduled on big feast days (like Pentacost Sunday) or during important Catholic events (like ordinations). Oh, and if half of your team can't compete in the championship tournament because of they are being Confirmed by the Bishop... well, that's just too bad for you... because the CYO schedule is more important that the SACRAMENTS. And how about a basketball tournament scheduled for Sunday afternoon and evening on December 22nd? We get it... Sunday afternoons and evenings are for sports. Perhaps you should forward this article to the chancery. Some people in CYO leadership seem to be more concerned with keeping a program going than in honoring the Lord's Day and encouraging healthy family life. If people want sports obsessed lives, there are a hundred secular club teams they can join. CYO should be set apart. If it fails, oh well, at least we've done the right thing.
Rant concluded. But good on Marky Mark.
Don't knock Cheerios in the pew Father V! If it weren't for those tasty little morsels in the pew keeping little hands and mouths occupied during the homily, the faint din we hear would become a not-so-dull roar!! I happily gave my toddlers Cheerios during mass FOR YEARS, and once they became pre-schoolers they no longer required it. They all seem to know when it's dooughnut Sunday though - strange thing that!
Oh and I second the rant about CYO!!
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