I’m celebrating Mass at St. Mary’s Parish in Colts Neck, New Jersey, these last two days.Kids from a summer camp are coming for Mass along with the usual morning community.

 I told the kids today that when I was young in grammar school in Bayonne, NJ,  my sister and I would go to the 9 AM Children’s Mass each Sunday. The priest who celebrated the Mass, usually a Passionist from Union City, NJ, came to our house for breakfast afterwards.

 His first question to my sister and me was “What were the readings at Mass today?” That was followed by another: “What did I say in my homily?” 

I learned early on to listen to the readings and prayers at Mass.

“Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” The young boy Samuel was told to say that when God called out to him by name in the temple. God calls each of us by name when we pray. There is something in the readings we hear and the words of our prayer meant for us.

It’s not enough to know our prayers and how to say them. We need to listen to them.

April 11th is the feast of St. Clare who, like Francis of Assisi, heard God’s word and saw it meant for her.  It’s not enough to know all the facts of the lives of the saints. We have to listen to the wisdom they want to teach us and make it our own.