He Ain’t Heavy; He’s My Brother

Today was a big day indeed! It began at 6AM… about an hour and a half earlier than necessary, but I woke up and could not go back to sleep… UGH!  The family hit the road for  Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral for Joshua and Shelby’s confirmation.  The cathedral is a marvel of architectural design and was the model for my own parish’s church.  A gorgeous place to worship… not in the safest of locations in the city but beautiful nonetheless.  If you ever have the chance to visit it… the pictures on the website do not do it justice.

Upon arriving at the church, I was surprised to see one of the youngest members of our game nighters.  Since I know he is in high school, I had to ask… “Aren’t you a little old?”  To which he replied… “Oh, no… this is all for me!”  On the contrary, he and his sister are members of our twin parish and she was being confirmed and sat a few rows in front of Joshua and I.

I found Bishop Blair’s homily to be quite timely and very well delivered.  Aimed chiefly at the confirmands, he stated that they were about to state on their own that they were ready to become part of the larger Christian community.  And like Father Flanagan (founder of Boys’ Town whose motto is the title of this post) must be tolerant and compassionate to all who are part of that community.

I have been teasing my godson a bit throughout his preparation.  If he goofed in front of the bishop, he would be slapped… HARD!  I dunno where I heard this but I remember the same as I began preparing for my day.  However, he did just fine as he stood in front of the bishop with me behind him with my hand on his shoulder.  So happy to stand behind him as he took a major step on his Christian journey.

I forgot to grab my camera this morning.  I had it in my hand, ready to go.  Then, my brother came to the house and asked if I had a shirt he could borrow.  I went, grabbed one, and we then went out the door with the camera on the desk.  So… here is a picture taken of Joshua and his sister and little brother in what looks like a criminal line up.  AH, well… next time he’ll think before his mug is shot.

I still say with his new glasses, he looks like a famous boy wizard.  Especially with that mane of unruly hair!  In total, 120 young men and women from 6 parishes in the diocese were confirmed.