Summer Celebrations

Michigan summers and the sun is something to hold out.

Couple that with celebrations and one has a winning combination.

Graduation parties, Dad's Day, anniversaries, block parties, garage sales, and a quiet day
at Metropolitan Beach fill June before July's Independence Day colors.

There's the mix of joy and sadness, of course. Young people graduate but have a hard time landing a job.

This weekend two parties will fill my heart, including a high school graduation party in Romeo, MI., and a fiftieth anniversary party of a pastor in Ferndale, MI. Before that, however, is my
usual routine of presiding at Mass downtown in SS. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church.

Serving and stooping low was the biggest part of Father Edward Prus' ministry of fifty years.

And, although I wonder why one would give his life to the priesthood these days, my conclusion is always the same - selflessness and service are still strengths and virtues worth giving one's total being.

That may sound like a contradiction into today's culture, yet, isn't that the way life works when it comes to values and virtues?

While I will enjoy a Sunday full of summer celebration, it will be the mix of a young graduate who just returned from mission service, and, the pastor's loving outreach, that will enlarge my heart in thanks.