The other day I was asked to serve at a Holy Hour for Life at my parish. The presider of this Holy Hour was our deacon. Deacon Dave is unique compared other deacons in our Archdiocese because he is deaf. This would be his first ever Holy Hour in which he would be presiding. The day of this service, I was asked to serve at it with Deacon Dave. Being unprepared, I was extremely nervous. To make matters worse, when I got to the church our Director of Liturgy told me that I would need to keep on top of Deacon so that he would know what to do and not get confused. This would mean that I would have to sort of be in charge of the Holy Hour making sure Deacon Dave knew what to say and do. Because of this added pressure I began to get even more nervous. I prayed to God to calm my nerves and to give me the strength to lead Deacon Dave in the right direction.
As the service began, I calmly held the Sacramentary for Deacon Dave and pointed to the opening prayer, but for some reason, Deacon Dave began pointing out a totally different prayer! I still continued to point to the opening prayer until finally Deacon Dave started to recite in sign language, the prayer. After this the rest of the service went smoothly but I was still very nervous. It was hard work helping Deacon Dave during this because I could not truly communicate with him and this made things difficult for me when I was trying to tell him something. Maybe this is a sign that I should learn sign language.
When the Holy Hour ended, I was so relieved. Deacon Dave thanked me over and over for helping him stay on track throughout the service as did the Director of Liturgy. I was very happy that I had done a good job even though I did it on such short notice. It feels good knowing that I had helped someone out. I helped our Director of Liturgy by coming to serve on short notice and I helped Deacon Dave lead a beautiful Holy Hour! Jesus was my source of calm during this service. He seemed to flood me with His peace and I am so glad that He did. I could not have done this without Him.
What a privilege to be SO CLOSE during a holy hour John! I too, have always wanted to learn sign language...in fact, I think schools should offer it as an elective! I've gone so far as to purchase a book for homeschooling instruction
ReplyDeleteof it...just haven't been able to incorporate into our schedule yet...best wishes in YOUR new ventures of it if you should pursue it further!
Beautiful... I love your writing John, keep it up. It sounds like you've found a truly lovely way to serve Jesus!
ReplyDeleteWell done John, you jumped in and served in faith. I play guitar at a Holy Hour every month. We have one this Thursday. It's always a privilege. I learned sign language once. I forgot most of it though, as I dont know any deaf people. You know, different countries have different sign languages. Its a pity, learning one for the whole world would be great. God bless you and Deacon Dave
ReplyDeleteHi John
ReplyDeleteWell done to you! A job well done for Our Dear Lord. Thanks for a lovely post and for a great Blog in general. I hope all is going well for you. God bless you.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI keep visiting your Blog and you seem to have stopped posting. I hope you're OK.
God bless.
Hello John
ReplyDeleteI, like Victor, keep looking in but you don't seem to be around at present. I hope all is well with you. Hurry back - we miss your posts. god bless you, John.