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November 6
Assumption, Eden Valley
Not even a week into my pilgrimage, I made a conscious effort to notice what made each church unique. An evening weekday Mass was unusual and Assumption also uncharacteristically filled up in the front pews. Scott and I met Anita, my co-worker, who we’d hoped to join us afterwards for a bite to eat, but was needed back home to help her husband and son who were harvesting corn. The harvest was a visual theme with hay bale and corn stalks adorning the entrance and the altar. The dark beams crossing the ceiling contrasted with the creamy walls for an overall very cozy affect. I recognized Father Nett from his days subbing at ROCORI ages ago. His service offered more Latin than I had ever experienced and I was not able to contribute, but it made me want to find an all Latin Mass, recalling tales from my Dad serving as an altar boy pre-Vatican II.
Using your talents and finding your place in the church was the theme of Father Nett’s homily. He shared details about members of a forum in St. Anthony’s in neighboring Watkins who were speaking about their different roles in the church as married, lay persons, and seminarians. It fit well with the Gospel Luke 14:25-33 where Jesus said ‘whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” and used examples of being ill prepared for construction of a tower or lacking soldiers in battle to his disciples needing to renounce their possessions and claiming their place with Jesus.
Just a month before I had attended a healing Mass at Assumption led by several priests, but I was there to listen to Father Mark Stang. From his cousins I worked with at ROCORI, I knew a bit of the miraculous healing experience he had while fighting cancer during his discernment to priesthood. Also when I had heard him while he was priest at St. Donaus in Brooten, I could feel the Holy Spirit working through him from the moment he began Mass with “In the Name of the Father” until the final “Amen.” Never before had I heard someone preach from the heart and hold each word with such reverence. His story, Finding the Water, focused on the challenges he faced throughout his life: struggling with school, vacillating between becoming a priest or farmer, and facing a dire cancer diagnosis. Over the course of a few perfect summer days curled up in my hammock, I read his short memoir so engaged with his message that I did not notice my next door neighbor mowing his lawn. Several passages gave me goosebumps from head to toe despite the hot summer temperatures. His powerful prayer of surrender resonated with me:
Lord, I thank You for another day of life. I surrender everything to You–all that I have, all my talents. Take me and lead me and guide me where You want me to go, whom You want me to meet, and what You want me to say. I surrender everything to You. Use me as You see fit to give You the glory. Send Your Holy Spirit to fill me and guide me. Amen.
Father Mark’s enthusiasm as a pri