The other morning I went to Mass, and Fr Francis was out again. I think he was away on retreat.
We had several different priests that week, and that morning we were blest with Fr Abrams.
Fr Abrams was baptized at St Patrick's, and he has been serving across the bridge in Cecil County for years.
I don't know that much about the details of his life, but I do know that he has come into mine over the course of the years at some very important times, and he somehow has played a role in my life that is unexpected. I probably won't ever know the extent of that, this side of Heaven, but I think that it is not small.
When we first started out here in Havre de Grace, we would go to St Patrick's and Fr Abrams would occasionally say Mass. My friend Suzanne would jokingly call him Sir Lawrence Olivier because of his dramatic delivery of homilies. He does have an amazing voice, and it turns out that he has been an actor and is a huge fan of Shakespeare. He would always come to the plays that the kids would put on when we were homeschooling.
When we had a rather difficult period in the parish, with a dramatic exit for one of our priests, Fr Abrams came to fill in for awhile, and we asked him if it was possible that he might be the new pastor. He said "Oh no, I was born here and you know what they say about a prophet in his hometown."
One of the moments that I remember that was very important to me was at a time when I felt that I had to separate from a group that I had been pretty deeply involved in. Many, well most, of my friends were in it as well, and it was really a pretty unhappy situation. I was thinking that I felt kind of adrift, and I wasn't sure what God wanted for me, in my spiritual journey. I had always had a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart, in fact I had entered that group on the weekend of the feast of the Sacred Heart. Then, as I became enmeshed in it, all the obligations and of that group kind of diluted that devotion. So when I came out of it, I went to confession. My confessor happened to be Fr Abrams, Did I say happened? No, God arranged that. And after my confession Fr said, in light of this difficult circumstance, "turn to the Sacred Heart and devote yourself to Him." I was flooded with such joy. I knew that at that moment God was giving me a great gift of assurance that He was with me, and I would find the direction I was looking for. And He always keeps His promises.
So when I saw Father Abrams the other day, and he said Mass, I was just so taken by the beautiful gift that his life has been to so many people. And I was prompted to take his picture. I seldom do that, but I really felt the Lord encouraging me. After Communion, in prayer, I felt the Lord saying that you just never know when the last time that you will see someone is, and it is so important to appreciate them and recognize the role that they have played. After Mass, I went back to the sacristy and I thanked him for being there for us, and I asked him to pray for a special intention. He assured me of his prayers and I just feel that he is heard in a special way. I pray that he has a very long life, and that our lives connect again over time, but if not, I want to say to him "Thank You, for giving God your amazing life."
