Ten Bucks

Father Tom Stransky CSP, has been in town for a few weeks from the Tantur Ecumenical Institute Jerusalem, Israel, giving a series of lectures for Georgetown University. In addition to being one of the former presidents of the Paulists, he was also present at the Vatican II Council in the early 60s. He and I spent the other afternoon visiting the Lincoln Memorial and then picking up some crab cakes at the DC Fish Market to bring back to the house. Back at the house we break open some beers in order to feast on our catch; I mention that I will be the Acolyte for the first time today and ask if he has any advice. "Stay towards the center, and when in doubt, genuflect."

My Novice Director John Behnke walks in as I am receiving this advice and whispers to me that we don't really genuflect here. So I go on my merry way to learn how to do all of this before Mass. I tell Deacon Bart that I am a Tabula Rasa and he starts directing me all that I am supposed to do during the service. There are a lot of items involved, and they all have weird names. Don Andrie, who will be presiding over the Mass, explains it like this; "It's like setting a table for dinner, and there are a lot of fancy names for this stuff. This here is the tablecloth, this is the plate, etc. When you think of it like that you'll get the hang of it." I would have shared the names here but I have forgotten, so forgive me for paraphrasing Father Don. The training goes well, and I get into my robe; it doesn't feel as weird as I thought that it would.

Just before I head out on the procession, my Novice Master whispers to me "I'll give you five bucks every time you genuflect." A ha - a challenge. We walk down the aisle, hold the book open for the priest. As I put the book down, I get down on my knee; a little "Cha ching" goes off in my head. I start planning how I will make it to fifteen, no maybe twenty dollars. But, I have to focus at the task at hand, and open the experience of actually serving on the altar. I like both the serious nature of how I'm serving right now in addition to the fun of a "contest" - during the homiy, I reflect on the term celebrating Mass and how the celebrating part so often gets lost in the shuffle of ritual. Still, after going to Mass all of my life, I am finding myself suprisingly moved by what's going on. I "set" the table and seem to do everything right, and then serve the wine during communion. After cleaning up the table, I clock in another genuflect (Cha-ching) but decide not to push it past that and take my seat.

After Father Don and I process out at the end of the service, I get a thumbs up from Bart. As a couple of people do come up to me and mention that I did not need to genuflect, I smile to myself. John walks by and says that he forgot to mention that the money only went into effect after THREE genuflects; I tell him that I'll be by the office to collect tomorrow. Everybody heads downstairs for the pre-dinner drink and I stay to clean up a few things. Before heading down, I walk into the chapel and sit down. I take a moment to thank God for being here - after that I realize that it's the first time I have thanked God for anything in over six months.

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The next day, a traffic ticket comes in the mail. "Somebody" had driven by one of those cameras a few weeks back in the tunnels of 395. After checking my calendar, it turns out that the one-hundred dollar ticket belongs to me. After confessing to John that it was me, I let him know that it's a good thing that the ticket came AFTER the service.