The Knights of Columbus are sponsoring the visit to the US of a major relic of the patron saint of parish priests, St Jean-Marie Vianney, known in his day as well as ours as the "Curé of Ars." Today it was Boston's turn and the newly renovated Cathedral of the Holy Cross was the first stop. So three of us who hadn't seen the Cathedral's new look decided it was the perfect opportunity to combine different forms of devotion in one relatively quick trip. When we got in, we saw that there was a talk going on: a perfect time for me to surreptitiously clip on and activate a GoPro camera. (I didn't want to be snapping phone pictures of the Cathedral or of a holy relic, opting instead to sport a wearable video camera like a misplaced phylactery--albeit one with a blinking red LED.) The Cathedral is lovely, and quite an improvement over its earlier, dark self (with raised pews that inevitably tripped the worshipers on their way in or out).
Visitors were invited to come up two at a time to venerate the relic (no kisses, please). It was as recollected as can be, giving me a lot of space to call to mind the special intentions I had for priest friends of mine, as well as for priests who have fallen short in their vocations or betrayed them. Priests who have served my family, and priests who have failed to preach the Gospel forthrightly to them. Young men called to the priesthood right now. I prayed for them all.
(Too bad my camera was a little crooked... I could fix the video but that would take forever.)
Holy cards and a brochure were also available, and by the time we were leaving, a prayer intention card (with handy email form so you could stay in touch with the Knights while your prayer intentions were brought to Ars). (The sisters had to wait for me to fill out my prayer intention card, giving St Jean his homework.)
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