Monsters, Rituals, and The Father's Love

Monsters, Rituals, and The Father’s Love

Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart there shall flow rivers of living water.’”

-          Jn. 7:37-38

“Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood…”

-          Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass

“Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the Chalice of My Blood…” At the words “Chalice of My Blood” the priest choked up with emotion. He could not go on. The assembled faithful at Sunday Mass, myself included, focused in on the man at the altar rapt in a mystic moment. I for one was moved, awe-struck, totally inspired by the sense of the Lord’s Real Presence that had overwhelmed the man of God. But I have to admit that this sacred moment caught me completely off guard. With Fr. Andrew I had never seen something like that happen before.

Yet how could such moments not happen sooner or later to any priest holding in their hands each day the Body and Blood of Christ, the Sacred Presence of Jesus Who has within His Heart, His Person, His Spirit, the fullness of Divine Love – the Sacred Presence of Jesus through Whom the Fire of the Father’s Love ignites among us during each and every Eucharist?

Should we ever be surprised when we experience in a moment at Mass the Divine Power of the Love that pours forth from the Presence of Jesus? Not at all! In Jesus’ own words it is why the Father sent Him to dwell among us – to reveal on the Cross the fullness of the Father’s Love. And it is in the awesome ritual of Eucharist, in the moments of Holy Communion, that we are drawn into that fullness – drawn into the Life of God, the Love of God, revealed on the Cross in all its Power. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” – will draw all humanity into My Life. (John 12:32)

In our Holy Communion with Jesus we are drawn into the experience of His Light and Love so powerful that it casts out the Dark Powers of this world – a Light and Love that even within us becomes a decisive Force in the face of Evil. The Sacred Ritual of Eucharist – it is the ultimate sign instituted by Christ whereby the Lord communicates His Grace, the powerful experience of the Life and Love of God. It is the ultimate sign of that Love whereby the Lord invites us to know the power and the freedom of that Love in a Divine and Holy Union with Himself.

And the Father through the Spirit of Jesus wants us to have this sign, this ritual moment. Through the Spirit of Jesus He wants us to have this ultimate sign of His Love each and every day. How could it be otherwise? He so loved the world that on the Cross He gave up His only begotten Son for us. (Jn. 3:16) It is in the Eucharist that we touch that Love, feel the height, depth, and length of this Love that surpasses all knowledge. The Lord Himself  draws us into the experience of that Love because the God Who is Love is a Lover – the Father is the ultimate Lover Who wants His children to know and experience His Love.

Each day through the beautiful ritual of Eucharist His invitation reaches out to us through His Son. The invitation is there to know in the moment of Holy Communion with Jesus the experience of God’s Love revealed on the Cross in all its fullness, in all its power.

The truth of all this should not surprise us. If you’re a loving father, it just doesn’t. I know for myself, a father of six children, it never has. All my life I’ve crafted and created rituals with my children whereby they would know and experience their father’s love for them. Should it not be all the more true for God the Father with His children? Yes! By all means!

More than that, God our Loving Father will spare no expense and pay any price to show His Love. The Cross makes that only too clear! Even as a loving father in my own life I have always understood the willingness of a parent to endure all and to suffer all for their children. And though I have not had to pay the price of the Cross to love to my sons and daughters, I have in the creation of rituals with my children spared no expense and paid any price to show my love for them. (Six kids, paying for college in the U.S.A – tell me about paying the price!!!)

In fact with respect to one of my rituals with my children - the “Ritual of Monsters” - I know the price that can be paid only too well! This was one love ritual with my two youngest sons that always exacted a cost for its demonstration. During the last episode of this ritual game that price was beyond anything I had ever planned or prepared for. It is this episode of the game that I now share, and why it was it was the last episode you’ll understand presently.

“Monsters” occurred after the family supper. My beautiful wife Patti has always made suppers a “sacrament” in our home, a time and place where the whole family – all eight of us – came together and rendered present God’s Love to each other through our own love. It was an experience of “Church” in the true sense of the word - a people, a family, filled with God’s Spirit, and a people, a family through whom God’s Love becomes present in power for others to see, feel, and experience as real.        

At the end of the meal one of my youngest sons, Pat or Tim, would come over to me and hop up on my lap as I sat in my Kennedy rocker. On one particular evening it was Tim who came over to me. This in itself was a “love ritual” I always enjoyed with all my children, hugging my child as I rocked them in my lap after the family supper.

And when I was tired from a long work day this ritual would suffice as a communication of a father’s love for my son. But on certain nights, when the long day’s labor had not drained all energy out of me, the “Monster’s Ritual” was on my mind. On this particular evening such was the case.

I rocked Timmy for a while, then picked him up and set him down, and said, “Daddy needs to go upstairs for a while…” It was the first signal to my sons! Now Pat and Tim could only hope that “Monsters” were in the winds that blew!

They would know for sure at the sound of the second signal. This was the moment that now came when after climbing halfway up the stairs, I began to GROWL!

At this sound, as they say, “all hell began to break loose!” Pat and Tim ran up the stairs after me, but I was already in my bedroom, hiding on all fours in the far corner of a deliberately darkened room.

When Pat and Tim entered my room they could not see me, but I made sure they could hear the snarls and growls – “Grrr…!!!, Rahhh…!!!, and oh so heavy breathing with grunts and groans in rhythmic time. I often thought at this point in “Monsters” that I had missed my calling in life – what an actor I would have made in horror flicks, or an actor to be hired out for a “Monsters’ Game” at birthday parties. But another part of me at this point would always say, “That ain’t going to happen!” Can you imagine the lawsuits?!

In any case, now the drama of the “Monsters’ Ritual” was building rapidly to its climactic moments. Tim and Pat would run toward the scary sounds, reach out toward me in the darkness, and then begin to pommel me mercilessly in any and every way possible. I knew this would happen. I expected it – it was all part of the price of playing “Monsters”! It’s what proceeded to happen next – or should I say the “unraveling” that happened next – which I never expected, and could never even conceive of happening. But hold on – I’m getting ahead of myself too much in the telling of my tale.

So as my sons attacked the “Monster” in the darkness, I always prepared a powerful offensive response. In the face of the merciless beating to which I was now subjected my best defense was a powerful offense. I would rise up in the darkness to the full extent of my great height over a fifth grader (Pat!) and a second grader (Tim!), all the while the keeping up the scary chant of snarls and growls, grunts and groans. Then I would grab one of my sons – in the case of this last episode of “Monsters”, it was my son Tim whom I captured first, the first victim of the “Monster in the Night”.

I picked him up and cradled him in my arms, with Tim fighting me, pounding me and beating my chest the whole time I was taking hold of him. Pat’s merciless attack would keep up as well. But in the face of it all I was undaunted.

Now I began portion of “Monsters” that involved the “Fly Ritual”. My sons knew it was coming. It was all part of the “fun”. This was the moment in “Monsters” when I prepared to jettison my son out of my arms. I would throw him out in the darkness right onto the center of the queen size bed in my room.

The “lift off” into the darkness always happened on the count of three. I would rock Tim back and then forth in the direction of the bed, counting out “1” on the first rock, and yelling out “2” on the second. Never during this dramatic count did I cease to roar and growl and grunt. All the while, Pat kept up his fierce attack with slaps and hits and kicks.

I often wonder now How I ever survived any episode of “Monsters”, but especially how did survive this last fiery ordeal?

After I yelled the count of “2” I would roar to Tim in a guttural, strident tone the words, “Get ready to FLY!” Now the last rock back and forth was made with exaggerated movements. I was like an archer pulling the bow string as far back as I could before sending the arrow into lightning swift flight. So now before the count of “3” I would dramatically rock back even more than before, spreading my legs as I did so. As I began to move forward and slingshot my son out into the darkness, I would pivot off my back right foot and move my left foot forward toward the bed. I was like batter at the plate stepping into the pitch.

As my left foot leaped forward I yelled “3” and then threw Tim into the air, roaring and growling as I did so. Tim and Pat always loved this climactic moment. I did too. It was great theater, and I was equal to the task, delivering the dramatic intensity required for the climax of “Monsters”!

But unlike any previous episode of “Monsters”, something now happened during this climax that I was not prepared for. Yes, as planned, with my legs spread and left foot leaping forward, I successfully launched Tim out into the darkness, and as planned, he landed right where he should, bouncing down into the center of my bed.

But as I released Tim into flight, as he sailed out into the air, I heard Patrick cry out Mr. Myagi’s “Hi yahhh!!!” Simultaneously, Pat delivered a fierce and forceful karate kick right in the spread between my legs, nailing me right in the groin and gonads. Yes, I need to be that specific!

The pain which shot through me was unspeakable. Maybe I hadn’t paid the price of the Cross to play “Monsters”, but I was now paying more of a price than I planned and prepared to pay. In the darkness, crying out with pain, I fell to the floor and folded up into the fetal position. Tim leaped off the bed and now joined Pat in a more fierce attack. They became even more emboldened with their hits and kicks now that the “Monster” had fallen to the floor.

As I moaned and groaned – all roaring had ceased – my sons pummeled me all the more mercilessly. They were for the first time defeating the “Monster in the Darkness”. The karate kick had dealt its lethal and deathly strike.

As for me, crunched up in the fetal position, I was just trying to protect myself – protect my private parts if you will from further damage. At that point in my life I was still entertaining the physiological possibility of having more children. But in the light of that karate kick I now had my doubts.

My sons though thought that I was feigning injury and feigning defeat. To them my moaning and groaning and everything short of screaming was all an act.

As they pummeled and kicked and jumped on me, I remember their laughter. There was no more fear of the “Monster in the Darkness”. They had vanquished the “Monster”. All that was left was their moaning and groaning Daddy pleading for mercy on the bedroom floor.

And if you can believe it, I was laughing too – despite the pain. I remember in fact that this last episode of “Monsters” ended, as all episodes did, with laughter and with me hugging my sons at the end of our game. Can you believe too that the laughter on the part of my sons didn’t start at the finale of “Monsters”? It started from the first moment they entered into the darkness of the room and heard the snarls and growls.

For you see my sons never had reason to fear the “Monster in the Darkness”. More than their fear at all times during “Monsters” they felt the love of their father. My sons, if you will, were like Mother Teresa proceeding boldly and deeply into the darkest and most dangerous areas of our world’s cities, and doing it without fear because she knew that in union with Jesus she was at all times a child in the arms a loving and all-powerful Father. She knew and experienced the Love of the Person present Who casts out all fear. (1 John 4:18)

So also my sons at all times knew the love of their father, and they knew it in a most powerful way through the very love game we were playing. It was the ritual “Monsters” that rendered present a father’s love for my sons to see. Through that game my sons could see and feel that they were valued, cherished, and loved by their Dad. That explains the laughter, the happiness. “Monsters”, like our family supper, was a “sacrament”, a sacrament like the Eucharist, a sacred ritual that rendered present in power an awesome Love for us to know and experience as real. In the face of that Love, in the encounter of that Love how could Joy and Happiness not follow?

The laughter of my sons – how I remember it so well… A father wants such moments with his children, a lover wants such moments with those he loves – the lover wants the beloved to see his love. How could the same not be true for God our Father? It is! And thus, the Grace of Eucharist! God is Love, and He so loves the world that in Eucharist, in union with Jesus, God’s only Son, we see and touch a Love like only God can love. We are filled with the fullness of that Love. We see and feel the Love of a Lord Whose Body was broken for us and Whose Blood was poured out for us.

And the Good News of Christianity is that in Eucharist we are not only given the “Light” to see God’s Love, but also the Grace to seek it. (Cure d’Ars) In Eucharist we are empowered by the Lord to enter into the Love shown forth from the Cross. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (Jn. 12:32) It is the Eucharist which accomplishes this. Over the course of our lives we are in Holy Communion with Jesus drawn ever more fully and deeply into the Fire of Love which burns in the Sacred Heart of God for each and every one of us.

At our passing from this life, our lives are changed, transformed by this Love, not taken away. At death we only pass into the fullness of that communion with Love, into the completion, totality, and perfection of that Holy Communion with Divine Love - a Love like only God can Love, a Love that paid the price of the Cross to bring us back home to the Father’s embrace, and a Love that will not fail us at the end of our earthly sojourn.

 

Do not be surprised then when we are overwhelmed by the power of the Love that comes upon us in Holy Communion, when we are overwhelmed by the Love of the Person Who joins us in Eucharist to Himself. In Eucharist God engages in the most powerful of “Love Rituals” with us. And for the price of our openness to receive Him into our hearts even now in this life we “Feel the Powah!” of the Love that radiates from His Person, the Love that pours forth from His Spirit, the “rivers of Living Water” that “stream forth from His pierced Heart. (Jn. 7:38) 

Be overwhelmed then by the touch of that Love! Be choked up with emotion! For in those moments it is the Joy of Jesus which wells up to overflowing within us. (Jn. 4:13-14) In communion with Him it is His Joy we feel, the Joy of the Son in the arms of His loving Father. His Joy is in us and our Joy is full, and in communion with Jesus “neither death nor life, nor things present or things to come” can take that Joy from us. (Jn. 15:11 and 16:22; Romans 8:31-39) 

To All My Friends, God Bless,

Doug +