Sometimes it is easy to lament the negative features of i-phones, but one of my greatest joys is to listen to the stories that my son, Father Patrick, will share with the pre-teens in his youth ministry about his life when he was their age. The latest one was making stink bombs from "acorn juice" when he was their age, a true story with a flourish of subtle exaggerations. The boys will sit enthralled with the details. Others were the medieval war games where he had the boys literally "bury" one of their fallen comrades while Patrick sang a "Latin dirge" at the funeral (actually it was the Gloria). And yes, they did quickly unbury him. That was actually filmed and I refuse to purge it from my phone. And he always has enough ammunition to increase the marvels of the priesthood. I know of 2 of his boys who subsequently have made choices to pursue the priesthood down in Georgia. When Fr. Patrick spends time with his nephews, he is always sending subtle messages of the joys of the priesthood, though his older brother, Fr. Benjamin does the same. I would not be surprised if one of the boys in the next generation of male O'Loughlins follow their lead. In fact, I would be disappointed, if one does not. There are currently 5 grandsons. The two of them give Geralyn and myself hope for the future! The Grace of God works wonders! Mary, Mother of vocations, pray for us!
We tried our best. Not perfect, but we had variety and dumped a lot of grace on the kids. The strange thing is even though it worked out, I don't believe there's a full proof formula that "fits all sizes". Mystery. Acting out Scripture stories once a week was fun, I must admit.
