by Fr. Lothar Gilde,
Pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Imperial
“United we stand and divided we fall.” John Dickinson, on July 7, 1768, published these words when he composed his work, “The Liberty Song.” The American Colonies were gaining the awareness that they would have to join as a single unit in order to achieve their independence.
The fact that unity is essential to stability has been part of our Christian tradition due to Our Savior’s teaching. “Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has arisen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.” (Mark 3:23-27).
I believe the Catholic (universal) Church will stay united and draw more souls into her unity by means of sincere devotion to the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Diocese of Lincoln’s Pilgrim Passport, in connection with the national Eucharistic Revival initiated by the Bishops of the United States, has already borne fruits of this supernatural unity. The parish of Saint Patrick in Imperial has not been an exception to these blessings.
Imperial is a long way to travel in order to complete the passport program in our diocese. One of the first people to complete the passport program came for the moment of benediction, which is at 11 p.m. Mountain Time. In other words, coming from Central Time, she was coming for a midnight benediction according to her own biological clock. She was confident in making it home to her own bed that same morning because she had worked as a nurse and possessed experience in enduring unusual hours. She also said her daughter would be in contact with her as a safety net.
Sometimes on holidays we might hesitate to complete some commitments because the schedule gets tight or our routine is thrown off track by special activities. So, when Mother’s Day came around, the question arose whether our parish would have Eucharistic adoration on that Sunday when many people might have extra family activities planned for the day.
The fact that our parish has been listed as one of the pilgrimage passport locations helped answer the question. Yes! Of course, we had to have adoration available on that Sunday, because someone might be traveling a long way in order to pray in adoration.
Lo and behold, someone had not only made the journey from Beatrice on Mother’s Day, but it was also his second time in completing the passport. His eagerness to share the inspiration that had moved him to attain such a feat was apparent by the joyful expression on his face. Unfortunately, I had some other activities drawing my attention away, so I did not get to revel much with him in the wonderful moment. Nevertheless, I do not think my personal lack of attention stifled the sense of glory he experienced on that particular day and the days thereafter.
One of the wrenches that got thrown into the mix was on Easter, even though it was not one of the adoration Sundays in the parish. The Spanish Mass in Imperial has always been at 7 p.m. on Saturday as a vigil of Sunday. As a pastor, it took a while for it to dawn on me that the Spanish Vigil Mass would always be frustrated on the day of the Easter Vigil since Mass could not begin until after sundown around 8:30 p.m.
Inevitably, some Hispanics would show up for Mass and I would have to explain that no Spanish Mass could be offered that particular Saturday. This year, one family was assertive enough to ask how they would be accommodated. We determined that there would be a Mass on Easter itself at 11 a.m. in Spanish.
That Easter Sunday Spanish Mass had a special grace to it that seemed to suggest that maybe a Spanish Mass every Sunday at 11 a.m. might be just as special. So the extra Mass was inserted into the schedule ever since Easter. The difficulty in the situation is that all the Pilgrimage Passport schedules indicated that Eucharistic Adoration at Saint Patrick in Imperial would be starting at 10 a.m. However, now the Adoration would be starting at noon instead.
To be expected, Pilgrimage Passport Adorers came at 10 a.m. and learned they would have to wait a little while in order to begin their holy hour. I apologized to one group that I encountered and they were so gracious.
They said, “It was a nice day to drive around until adoration began.”
At the priest convocation in Kearney, the morning presenter, Father Riccardo, explained how prayer before the Blessed Sacrament could really enlighten and change hearts. One story he told was about a synodal diocesan effort, where issues would be shared and offered. One man came with a list of personal matters that were weighing on his mind.
He arrived at the time specified as the start of the gathering, and had the list of topics he wanted to present. Instead of being able to immediately state his thoughts before an assembly, he was told that first everyone was being asked to enter a time of adoration before the Lord. His sense of urgency had to be delayed a little longer; nevertheless, he went into the moment with an open heart.
After the designated time for adoration had lapsed, he found that his urgency had dissipated and he was not even so sure that his particular thoughts needed so much attention. Supposedly he even found the person that first announced to him the policy of starting the event with adoration and wanted to express an apology for any impatience he might have expressed before everything began.
Saint Paul explained to the people of Corinth, “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.” The different parts of the body need to act in unison. Still, the question remains, “How can we as individual members of the body gain the harmony that is supposed to characterize the unity of a single body?”
Catholics have begun to re-emphasize once again the “answer” to this question about harmony and unity by means of our love for the Eucharist. We are going to need this antidote even more as we approach a presidential election that is guaranteed to use rhetoric that put us in camps that are opposed to each other. Even as a priest, I do not have answers to the very real divisions that exist in the human and even Catholic community.
Consider that for us Our Lord prayed, “So that they may all be one, as you Father, are in me and I in you, they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17:21). Where else will we find this prayer for unity made by Our Savior answered than before His very presence? Before Him may we quiet ourselves so that we will be enabled to receive His divine answers that give us certitude concerning his will for our ultimate salvation.
The enemy of darkness, the devil, promotes perplexities and proposes misinformation concerning the truths already revealed by God. Unaided, humanity will be incapable of finding an answer to the divisions that are leading us into a steep fall. We will only find the unity that enables us to stand together by means of the grace that is a supernatural gift from Our Savior to stay united.
Let us not relent in bearing the fruit that has begun to generate from our renewed Eucharistic adoration.
