I Can Give My Joy!

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue, Holy Monday.  During a brief break in the action at St. Patrick’s last night, I had a chance to catch up with Fr. Patrick.  Father oversees the Legionaries seminary in Cheshire, and had brought the young seminarians down to New York for the day to help us get Holy Week off with a bang. 

Out there, in front of the Cathedral, two lines had formed of passersbys waiting to have a chance to pin their prayers to the two crosses the brothers had brought with them, while a third team strummed plaintive Holy Week music on their guitars.  Within the Cathedral, 12 to 15 deep confession lines were everywhere our six priests were stationed, with our dozen missionaries themselves beset with lines of people waiting to talk about God and receive a rosary.  We’d seen confession lines before, but none this long.  And neither of us had previously experienced a line this long to post a prayer note on a cross, much less to talk with a missionary and receive a rosary.

“Steve, something is in the air.  Something is changing.  This is not a one-off phenomenon.”

I hope and pray that Father is right.  He certainly felt right last night.  The missionaries had so many joyful conversations with so many souls from all over the world—Argentina to Italy, Spain and Poland, Brazil and the UK, the west coast of Ireland, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Portugal, Mexico and France, Germany, and Norway.  And because of the continuous flood, quite frankly, it was impossible for me to take notes on my phone; no natural breaks! 

To those of you out there wondering if you can help, the answer is a resounding “yes!”  Certainly, prayers mean a lot, especially for the souls we are encountering during the mission hours in SoHo later this week.  Please try to do that.

And, if you are feeling UNAFRAID, please come and join us in SoHo.  The going will be tougher there, but our little band of missionaries and priests have some great momentum coming out of Holy Monday!   Please join us.

As I left Father out on 5th to rejoin the action within the Cathedral, he left me with one last comment.

“Steve, the most important thing Evelyn told us during the prep session was one word:  “Joy.”  Some of the brothers were a little fearful, a little intimidated.  But when she told them that, they whispered to me, “Father, I can do that!  I can give my joy!”

A missionary

April 15, 2025