To the Band of Brothers: December 6, 2021
Good morning,
Just before Thanksgiving, I had dinner with some very good friends. The occasion (not that there needs to be one for very good friends to get together) was a pregnancy. Yes sir, it was a night to celebrate a baby in the oven, a future hatchling. That night, I had just finished watching the varsity soccer team beat Doral Academy. That itself was a big deal since they, like us, were state champions last year. When the game was over, I raced to Coral Gables for dinner.
Already at the table was the young lady who has been carrying the bundle of joy for close to nine months. Next to her were her parents (already a.k.a. Pipo and Mima) and the parents of the expectant father (already a.k.a. Lolo and Lola). To make the night even sweeter was that just a couple of years ago I had married the young couple in a beautiful wedding ceremony at Gesù Catholic Church. I remember how at one point in the wedding ceremony I asked the two of them if they were willing to “accept children lovingly from God and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church.” I remember they said “yes.”
So, here we were, two years later, celebrating the fulfillment of a marriage promise. They are having a baby girl and want to bring her up in the Church. We talked about baptism. We talked about where and when. I was excited about it for many reasons, including because I was eating risotto and osso bucco as we spoke.
As I heard the young mother speak, I couldn’t help but feel that the birth of the baby and the subsequent baptism would be a fulfillment of a marital vow, a making good of a promise that was obviously not taken lightly. It was consoling to see her speak about the baptism of her baby with the same enthusiasm I saw her speak years ago about her wedding.
As we finished dinner, I got up to leave and she asked me to bless her baby. I shuttered for a moment because of a flashback of an incident not too long ago when a young couple asked me for a blessing. After giving it I proceeded to place my hands on her belly to bless the baby. Imagine how I felt when she looked at me and said, “But Father, I’m not pregnant.” Gooooooool!
Knowing I was in the clear this time, I placed my hands on her stomach and thought of the baby just on the other side. I closed my eyes and asked the Holy Spirit to fill the child with health and happiness. I prayed that the baby would help her parents become closer to God, who is the source of all life. I was reminded at that moment how a husband and wife are endowed by this God with one of His greatest divine attributes: creation. The love of husband and wife has the power to create just as God creates. That is a power not to be taken lightly.
Then, another thought came to me. Here we were, in the middle of an Italian restaurant in Coral Gables having a moment of prayer (what I call a public display of faith or PDF). It was not rowdy, disturbing, or annoying. It was just an expression of faith out in public without feeling embarrassed or ashamed or intimidated.
And why not? I remember as a kid going out to dinner with my family and how we would always pray before eating. I remember my father making sure we all did the sign of the cross, not cloaked behind a napkin or under a table, nor performed at lightning speed with quick jerking motions. Not embarrassed, but convinced.
In a world and especially a country that seems to be obsessed with removing God from the public eye, why not respond by bringing Him back in? When Jesus said to go out into the world and preach the gospel, can’t we assume that he also meant restaurants and public places? Wasn’t it St. Francis of Assisi who once said we were called to preach the gospel and when necessary, use words? While I may feel guilty about quoting a non-Jesuit like St. Francis, I admit the guy was right. That sign of the cross can be one of the best homilies anyone has ever heard or seen.
Auspice Maria
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.