It’s almost been a whole year since I mentioned One Year of Faith, which found a special place on My Pocketful of Thoughts on Sundays. Pope John Paul II asked the community to spend the year learning the Catholic Faith. When I first heard about it I realized that I had stopped studying my faith when I had finished my classes for Confirmation. I had been reluctant to go to that meeting but when the day was done I was renewed with a sense of spirit for my religion. I had mentioned different things I’d learned working with the church’s youth group but I realized that I could be learning something every Sunday in Mass BUT it was going in one ear and out the other because I wasn’t really listening. How often do we go through the motions at church? We zone out and next thing we know we’re being told to go in peace because the Mass has ended?

I have to admit that was me almost every single Sunday until I heard Father Jeremiah speak. While I laughed a lot during his talk (he really was hilarious) I also heard what he was saying. His stories stuck with me and I couldn’t wait to share them here with you. I know I still own you a few stories from last winter but I’m still in search for my notes from that day.

Speaking of notes, every Sunday I pull out a small notebook and I take notes on the homily. It’s a great way for me to remember what was discussed so I can get it to you. However, its also a great way to reflect on the words later. I remember my friend Annette would tell about her taking notes at church and I thought it was a bit odd but now that I do it myself I’m sure I’m the one who gets the side eye at church when I pull out pen and paper. It’s like I’m back in school and I’m waiting for the teacher to give the answer to a question that will be on our test.

Life can be one big test. What if we found the answers in the Sunday Mass? Is that cheating? No. We all have the opportunity to go. We can all take notes. When the question comes up we can flip through and reread our notes to find the answer. We can also turn to our text book to look for answers as well. The Bible is a great way to seek what we wish to find.

The great thing I remember about class though, was that we all heard different things. All of them being important but all different. Study groups were a way to get every student together to go over what they heard during lecture. We’d find that we missed something while we were feverishly writing down the point before that we wanted to remember for later. It is a great thing to compare notes.

Today, I leave you with today’s homily. Tell me what you hear as you read it. Let the words sink in and share what it says to you. We all hear different things. We’re all going through different phases of our lives, different problems, different solutions, different maybe everything. The one thing that binds us all is our faith and love.

Will you continue to learn with me?

Until then,