Tag: Gospel

jeff noel Lector

jeff noel Lector.

Doing the first reading this morning at Mass. May God’s Holy Spirit fill me with the wisdom to read in such a way, that the parishioners will feel like God is speaking to them and not me.

Blessed beyond measure we are. Aren’t we?

jeff noel – Blessed & Stressed

jeff noel, blogger, average guy, Father, Husband, teacher, is blessed and stressed after yesterday.

Blessed because I am all those things.

Stressed because I am not all those things.

Yes, my wife and I conducted an excellent Children’s Liturgy of the Word yesterday. Yet stressed, because at the afternoon birthday party, I realized there is a long way to go with helping our son work through his competitive nature.

He actually has a gift. We all do, don’t we?

Some us simply need help unwrapping it. Now, where did I put those scissors.

Children’s Liturgy of the Word

Children’s Liturgy of the Word. God’s Word.

And the fact that I would be delivering homilies (sermons) to dozens of elementary school children boggles the mind.

Yet, it will happen again today, like it does the fourth Sunday of every month. My wife and I volunteer to do this.

Four years ago, a woman from our Church made an appeal to the congregation that she needed more volunteers or Children’s Liturgy would go away. After Mass, we volunteered, thinking we would simply be helpers “on the sidelines”.

Funny how things turn out exactly opposite from the way we expect.

Volunteering – Involving Your Family?

Yesterday a fellow public speaker asked an excellent question. By the way, great professional speakers ask great questions.

“What about volunteering with your family”? It was not clear in yesterday’s post, so here it is now.

All our volunteer efforts start with, “Can we do this as a Family”?

Not only is being visible important to setting a good example, but so is involvement.

My wife serves as a Minister of Holy Communion on the days I Lector. Afterwards, our son helps me carry the Gospel (a very large, heavy book) back to the Sacristy. Been doing this since he could walk.

It was cute the first few years because it was only symbolic. He was not strong enough to actually help. But children don’t care. He actually believed he was lifting it.

You know, in a weird sort of way, he actually was. Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂