Update/reflection from Fr. Gratton (23 MAR 2020):

N.B. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered for all of our parishioners and in Thanksgiving for Healing (by Richard & Mary Ann Church).

Hi Everyone,

Today we celebrate a little known Saint named, St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, Bishop.

He was born in Spain around 1538. He taught Law at the University of Salamanca, and at 42 years old was chosen to travel all the way across the world to Lima, Peru, to be their first bishop. There is a very special place in my heart for the people of Lima, Peru.

I had the great privilege of traveling to Lima last year with 15 Rice Memorial High School students and a few chaperones. We spent two weeks, living in a convent alongside deeply faithful religious sisters. We ate our meals with them, prayed with them, and then spent the rest of our days either working at a camp for young boys who had been abandoned on the streets by their families, or at a hospital for children with extreme medical conditions that their families could no longer support financially.

My high school students all had different backgrounds (some poor, some rich, different races, different faiths, etc.), and entering into this world of extreme poverty was definitely an "eye-opener' for them. They proceeded with caution at first, but then, after letting God into the experience, they truly fell in love with serving those in need. Indeed, they made some of their best friends among these forgotten children of Peru, and they still keep in touch with them to this day.

The experience was rich with lessons of humanity, sacrificial love, and of course, faith. It was an experience that came at a very difficult time in my priesthood, and I know that I am still unpacking the graces from that trip to Peru.

There was a common lesson, however, that all of my students (and parents!) learned on that trip. Each night before we prayed together, and then went off to our separate rooms to sleep, we went around the circle and shared our high/low/God moments. This means that every student had to reflect on their day and share with the rest of the group their “high moment”, their “low moment”, and “a moment where they saw God at work”. It was amazing to see highschoolers stop, take a step back from their frenetic world, and speak about the good, bad, and Godly things in their day. It was healing for them, and it was refreshing for their parents and me to see. After doing high/low/God moments for two weeks straight, my students became masters at the art of spiritual reflection. It was powerful to see how deep their faith had grown, and how they were opening their eyes to all of the experiences of their day more than ever before.

On the last day, we did our same high/low/God moments as a group, and afterward I asked each student, alone, what the biggest lesson was that they would take back with them to Vermont. Every single one of them said the same thing, in as many words: “when I get back home, I am going to be more grateful for the things in my life that I take for granted.”

I pressed the issue and asked, “Why?” Again, this was the response across the board: “Well, Father, when I first got to Peru I saw these poor, abandoned kids, and I pitied them. I felt bad for them and I couldn’t believe they lived the way they did, with nothing but each other. Then, as the days went on I realized they were more happy than I have ever been in my life. I want their joy, Father, and I am starting to realize that happiness does not come from the things of this world, it comes from being grateful to God in every moment.”

As the final student passed through my "spiritual interview", I smiled to myself, went to the chapel, and got down on my knees to thank God for the wonderful reminder of what makes this world tolerable. It has nothing to do with things, money, fame, popularity, ephemeral pleasures, or even having the freedom to go wherever you want. These students saw it with their own eyes that people can be perfectly happy—happier than many Americans can even fathom, unfortunately—with nothing.

How? They were grateful for everything!

May that be the lesson, today. May we, too, take the time to see our high/low/God moments of each day, and may they lead us to realize that everything is a gift. And if we can see everything in this life as a gift—even the bad things, like a lack of freedom in quarantine—then nothing, NOTHING, can take away our joy.

St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, pray for us!

Love you all,

Fr. Gratton