I have been attending a Saturday morning Mass at St Dominic in Shaker Heights. The early 6:30 AM Mass is followed by a Eucharistic Holy Hour. The Holy Hour is organized, a piece of paper dispersed with communal prayers to be read by a speaker every fifteen minutes. It is a hallowed service, sublimely providing space for prayer. Here is one of the prayers read.

Prayer for Vocations
By Pope John Paul II

Mary, your life was a humble and generous service. You were the servant of the Word when the angel announced to you the divine plan of salvation. You were servant of the Son, giving him life and remaining open to His mystery.

You were servant of the redemption, standing courageously at the foot of the cross, close to the Suffering Servant and Lamb, who was sacrificing himself for love of us. You were servant of the Church on the day of Pentecost, and with your intercession you continue to generate her in every believer, even in these our difficult and troubled times.

Let the young people of the third millennium look to you, young daughter of Israel, who have known the agitation of a young heart when faced with the plan of the eternal God. Make them able to accept the invitation of your Son to give their lives wholly for the glory of God.

Make them understand that to serve God satisfies the heart, and that only in the service of God and his kingdom do we realize ourselves in accordance with the divine plan, and life become a hymn of glory to the most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Sargeant Leo E. Lovasik was a WWII American pilot who was nicknamed ‘Our Lady’s Knight.’ He was an example to his peers and always instructed his fellow companions to pray to Our Lady for her protection. His plane was shot down by the Germans in 1943 and he was killed in the explosion. The pilots, back then, were allowed to decal their aircraft and give it a name. Sargeant Lovasik christened his, Our Lady’s Knight. His brother, a priest, and prolific author, Father Lawrence Lovasik published his story.

Accenting, highlighting, a prayerful Hospice experience this afternoon, Rita took me to Severance Hall to enjoy the Cleveland Orchestra performing Dvorak’s ‘Stabat Mater’.  I did not know we would be attending a Marian event.  Nor did Rita.  The Stabat Mater is a traditional Catholic hymn credited to Italian Franciscan Jacopone da Todi.  The operatic performance proved stellar.  Fifth row seats allowed intimate witnessing of individuals graced with superior skills and practiced precision executing wonderfully as a unified body.  Our Lady was the theme of the day.  Blessings rain on a free da–a day off work before another day off.  The poem ‘The Knight and His Celestial Lady’, I posted earlier came from a book ‘Our Lady’s Knight: The true story of Technical Sergeant Leo E. Lovasik’.  I came across the book spending the afternoon with a Hospice patient.  I spent a previous afternoon with him several weeks ago, providing respite for his daughters and son.  I was informed earlier in the week the patient requested my return.  I was humbled and honored to accept the invitation.  He has stopped eating, not getting up from his bed.  His daughter warned me she feared he was very close to death, asking me if I was alright with the fact.  I told her how moved I was to be there.  The patient and myself enjoyed two and a half hours of intense prayer, moments of quiet poignantly filling—the silence empty, yet sustained by birds singing.  I adored the way he kept focus on me, forcing me to close my eyes in order to hide from identity.  It was a good day.  Afterwards, only a mile away from St Paul Shrine, I stopped by in order to sit before the Eucharist.  I encountered the man of prayer, engaging in a conversation centered on the passing of his father Thursday evening.  God is good and all giving.  It is interesting and noteworthy that the Marian book revealing the life of Sergeant Leo E. Lovasik is difficult to attain. Copies do not exist for purchase.  I will have to stop by the patient’s home offering his children money for the book.  It will be a pleasant Sunday afternoon excursion.