On December 19th, 2015 the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton class met at Alemany High School, Mission Hills. Our next class will also be at Alemany High School, Mission Hills on January 9th, 2016. (Please click here to read all of our experiences of the bi-weekly Deacon formation classes).
As a couple in Diaconate Formation one of the many items that you agree to do is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. This is also referred as the prayer of the Church and is being prayed somewhere in the world 24/7, 365 (or 366 if a leap year) days a year.
As part of this prayer we share the different parts of this prayer. The parts are: Presider, the one who leads the prayer, the Psalm Leader, who leads the praying of the Psalms, the Reader, who reads the scripture passage and the Other Person, who leads the Responsory. Jay had the role of Morning Prayer Presider this week. An additional role of the Presider is to provide a reflection on the reading read during Morning Prayer.
Today’s reading was from Isaiah 2:3b
“Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain,
To the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
And we may walk in his paths.
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
The reflection that Jay provided went something like this:
So, where do we find the Lord’s mountain? Is it in Mission Hills at Alemany High School? Or, perhaps it is in La Puente at St. Louis of France Parish, or Immaculate Conception Parish in Glendale. It could even be our own Parish. It could also be the place where we pray Morning Prayer. The Lord’s mountain is, to me, anywhere we go to and receive instruction about our faith. We learn how to walk in his path.
The next part is where we go with this knowledge, this instruction, with this path that we have learned to walk in and how do we apply it. Can we share it with those at work? Can we take it and apply it when a person takes that parking space that we have been waiting patiently for?
During this joyful season each of us receive special gifts from the God of Jacob. May we be able to take the gifts we have been given and share them; especially with another whose gift we may be carrying.
As a group we have all struggled with the many mountains life has presented through the past four years. We all have children, some have grandchildren, jobs, mortgages, responsibilities that everyday life presents. We, as a group, have formed a very special bond, knowing that when we struggle to scale that mountain that we do not journey alone, joining together in prayer and support, words of encouragement and advice. We center ourselves in the knowledge that God’s will be done, that the difficult and sometimes heart breaking events are necessary to temper the armor that His will has given to us, so that we can walk his paths and climb that mountain, to be exactly where God wants us to be and give thanks for His unconditional love.
May you blessed as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and as we continue to care for those on the margins of society.
If you have any questions about what we have experienced in the diaconate (aka “that deacon thing”), please ask us or send us an e-mail to gbmom_01_02@yahoo.com.
If you are interested in becoming a Deacon or a Deacon Couple for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, please contact:
Diaconate Formation Office
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Boulevard, 2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241
213-637-7383
Candy & Jay Krueger,
Diaconate Formation, Year IV,
Holy Family Church, South Pasadena, CA