Hello, and welcome to the
Tiber River Café. My name is Dean
Humphreys, and today’s topic is part 5 of my faith journey. Our family has grown with the addition of our
son, Peter. Becoming a parent had
expanded my faith journey showing me what fatherly love is all about, and the
love our Father in heaven has for each of us.
Not only was I adding cobblestones to my faith path every day, but now I
was also trying to teach our Catholic faith to Lisa and Peter, not necessarily
with words which can be drowned out and ignored but more importantly by my
example as a husband and father.
Starting at a very early age
we would say our night-time prayers with Peter, Our Father and Hail Mary. We would always have our evening meal as a
family and starting at a very early age Peter would be the one to say grace
before our meal, “Bless us, O Lord.” We
continued to attend weekly Mass, at first on Sunday mornings at 9 o’clock, and
then as Peter got a little older he preferred to attend the Saturday evening
Mass at 5:00 (so he could sleep in a little bit). I would also read one page from the Catholic
Children’s Bible each night as part of our bedtime routine. This came to be known as “Two Minutes” as it
takes about two minutes to read a page from the Bible.
As Peter continued to mature
and advance through the elementary grades we changed to the Catholic Bible,
again one page every night as part of his routine. He read through the New Testament about 3
times and then he expanded his daily readings to include the entire New
Testament. So far he has finished the
New Testament several times. Eventually
we added one page from the Catholic Catechism, the YouCat, making an additional
two minutes. I will ask, ‘did you read
your two minutes last night, with the response always, ‘yes’; but I’m not
totally naive and realize that some nights he doesn’t read from Scripture, but
I think that for the most part Peter does read Two Minutes.
One day we were riding our
bikes around one of the smaller Finger Lakes near our home and during our
conversation he said something very insightful and I responded, “Well done,
good and faithful servant.” Peter then
responded that it read, “Well done, good and faithful slave” as it reads in his
Bible. I think he is reading two minutes
most nights. Will he continue into his college years? I hope.
We have always tried to let Peter make his faith decisions, within
reason; we have tried to attend weekly Mass but there have been times when we
miss. But mostly the idea is that we
should be happy to go to Mass for one hour and that it only takes 2 minutes to
read a page from the Bible. We are
trying to have Peter start his own faith journey and to add his own
cobblestones to his spiritual path.
Well, I had worked at the
private cardiologist practice for 7 years and felt that I could use a
change. I started looking around and was
encouraged by a friend to call her friend at the Syracuse VA Hospital. I was really not interested in working at the
Syracuse VA but decided to call her friend to see what might be available. I had scheduled a Friday off for a 3-day
weekend and called her that morning and she told me that they were looking for
a cardiology nurse practitioner (my specialty) and she encouraged me to contact
Human Resources. I then called the
person in Human Resources who invited me to an interview that morning at 11:00;
two additional interviews that Friday afternoon, and then another 2 or 3 the
following week. I entered the hospital
that Friday not overly excited, but once inside I knew that it would be a
perfect fit.
I knew this was the Holy
Spirit working in my life, everything was falling into place at a very rapid
pace. I was offered the position and I
accepted—one of the best decisions of my life.
Not only do I get the privilege of caring for our nation’s veterans,
some of whom live in a lower socioeconomic circumstance, but the hospital also
has a chapel with a full-time Catholic priest, daily Mass at 11:30 and an
Adoration Chapel open 24 hours a day. It
took me a year or two to find out about the chapel, but I have been attending
daily Mass for the past several years.
As the chapel is
interdenominational I set up the chapel each morning for Mass, and participate
in the Mass as the Lector. I have the
fantastic opportunity of receiving the Eucharist every day, and every day I add
some more cobblestones and my spiritual path continues to grow. I can see how the Holy Spirit continues to
move in my life every day, changing careers to be a nurse, converting to the
Catholic faith, getting married, having a child, taking care of the poor and
often neglected, working where there is daily Mass; there really are no
coincidences.
So there you have it, the
fifth part of my faith journey to the Catholic Church. Thanks again for stopping by the Tiber River
Café, where there is always plenty of room at the banquet table. I hope to see you next time. Peace be with you.
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