Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

We are in Los Angeles visiting our daughter. It has been a lovely visit. The hotel is standard Marriott Courtyard, but the rooftop pool is very nice. I’ve been able to swim laps almost every day we have been here.

Today, being Sunday, we got up, got dressed, and headed off to Mass. One of the things I love about traveling is going to Mass in different places. There’s a nice juxtaposition of everything being new and different while everything still being the same.

Today we attended Mass at St. Cyril of Jerusalem on Ventura Blvd.

It is a beautiful church but also somewhat unusual as the back wall of the sanctuary houses the enormous pipes for the organ. The organ itself is right there, in the middle of the sanctuary, just behind the altar.

The Mass was cantered by a wonderful soprano, and the music throughout the Mass was all traditional hymns, with the pipe organ booming throughout the large church. The musician playing the organ was superb, as indicated by the recessional music.

The priest celebrating the Mass was Nigerian, Fr. Emmanuel, a priest visiting from Missouri, where he is the pastor of a church there. He also was booming his heavily accented English throughout the church, commanding our attention several times by saying, “Look here!”

This was very fitting given the readings for the day. The Gospel was from Luke, 12;32-48, warning the faithful to remain vigilant, stay awake, keep watch.

You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Fr. Emmanuel had a very interesting metaphor that he used to convey his message to the congregation. He talked about our ever present cell phone, how we are never without it, how we care for it, how we ensure that the battery never dies. He went on to say that some people charge their cell phone every night while they are sleeping (guilty as charged), they have it plugged in while at work (yes, sometimes), they are obsessed with ensuring that they will be fully charged when they need it. He asked the congregation, “What do you do when you notice your phone’s battery is running low?” And, to no one’s surprise, many people shouted (myself included), “Charge it up.”

How then, Fr. Emmanuel inquired, do we ensure our spiritual battery is fully charged? Do we just go to Mass on Sunday, and then ignore our faith the rest of the week, returning on Sunday a week later to “charge it up” for another week? Are we remaining vigilant? Are we keeping watch?

Walking out of the church after Mass, we were greeted near the front doors by Fr. Emmanuel. I told him I enjoyed his homily, and “I’ll think of you every time I plug in my cell phone to charge it up.” His reply? “Good!”