A convert, a new Catholic, a new grown-up Catholic, recently said, with a smile, he said, "If going to Mass at the church on Sunday is not a refreshment, what is it, a punishment?" And he meant, of course, it's refreshment for the soul. If it's not a refreshment, what is it, punishment? The acronym for today is pray, P-R-A-Y. PRAY. PRAY. P, place; R, relief; A, anxiety; and the Y, I couldn't come up with a noun, so the Y is yes. Yes. Okay.

First is Place. As you know, my father was a cartoonist. So I've grown up seeing balloons over people's heads, as in a cartoon, thinking, Oh, I can see what he's thinking, I can tell what she's thinking. So over there someone is sitting in this refurbished, refreshed place. It's kind of grouchy over there, the balloon. He's looking around. Oh, well, uh-huh, I'd say 80 percent of the refurbishment is okay; 20 percent, how did they ever make that decision? Eighty percent, it's not so bad. But I got to keep telling myself, says the balloon over there, I got to keep telling myself it's not the decor or even the beauty. It's Christ. Christ is the foundation of my faith and my Church, whatever church I'm in. I still don't know why they call it Christ the King. They should call it Christ the Serf, Christ the Peasant, or Christ the Carpenter.

You know, I could make a lot of changes if they gave me some say. But it is church, and I got to admit, it looks pretty good. Even smells good. I once heard somebody say -- it's an old canard -- home is the place where when you go back and knock on the door they got to let you in. All my life, says the balloon, that's been Church. Church is the place where when you go back, knock on the door, they got to let you in. If church and Mass on Sunday is not a refreshment, what is it, punishment?

Okay. The next balloon, R, Relief, it's over there. We'll make this a lady over there. There's a balloon, Relief. Oh, thank God, Mass outdoors, one Sunday we're broiled alive, hell on earth. The next Sunday it's so cold I needed my mink coat. At least here the temperature is moderate. It's much more comfortable indoors. Look at them up there, those two priests. My God, the pastor, one of the hardest working men in Western Christendom has been afflicted with shingles -- thank you, God -- for weeks.

And when you come to think of it, the church has been refreshed. Couldn't we refresh the priesthood? What's the average age of those guys? Let's see. There's father Tom, Father Deane, Father Timoney, the pastor and the bald guy up there now. What is the average age? We need new priests. Maybe some of the guys who left the priesthood to get married and have children, and the children have gone to college and have grown up, some of those guys would come back without a salary. I know some of them. And we'd be glad to help. We're still priests till death. We'd be glad to help say Mass, hear confession. But, oh, no. I mean, look at them up there.

However, we still have Jesus Christ. We still have Jesus Christ, Who's always alive. What a head He had on his shoulders, says the balloon over there. Today's Gospel, what a good head on His shoulders. And His feet on the ground. We mustn't think of Jesus as some kind of amorphous, floating little Jesus, pat-on-the-head. Vibrant human being, Son of God. But, boy, what a man was Jesus Christ. What common sense in today's Gospel. Common sense. Don't load yourself down with a lot of baggage. Get going. Spread the word. And Gospel means good news. Not scary. Not you're going to hell. Good news. And He tells them -- Jesus Christ, right out of His lips, He tells these 12 guys, spread the good word. And when you say the good word and people don't want to hear you, split. You got just so much spiritual energy. And so do we about people in our families we love, that we're worried about. They know we come to church -- which maybe that's all you can do.

You got so much spiritual energy. Jesus says, Say the good word. They don't want to hear it, shake the dust from your feet. It's a good old Jewish symbol meaning good-bye. Good common sense, Jesus. No excess baggage. Keep going. Spread the good news. Yeah. Looks okay in here. Feels okay. If Mass in church is not refreshment, what is it, punishment?

The third balloon is me -- is I. Okay. I'm entitled to one balloon. I got a phone call a few days ago, several days ago, at my little cottage with my little dog. Hello? Yes? This is Tom. Come to the church. I'm on the cross. Click! Tom is a friend of mine, but I thought, That's rather dramatic. I'm on the cross? Get a priest. I'm retired. So I arrive here, and they've got this big thing. It has a technical name. Of course I don't know it. But it's this big ladder, but it's moveable. Very wobbly. You can move it with the levers. And up and up we go, Tom and me, bald priest. And we're cleaning Jesus. We did. Fingernails and feet. I had the feet. Manicure and pedicure. And Our Lord has a great face, now that it's all clean. His face is very kind. Not weak. Kind. When I was up there cleaning our Lord's feet, I was thinking about all the years I spent worrying about exams. I mean, it's my balloon. All the exams about Canon law, all the laws I had to memorize, and all the laws of moral theology, the different venial sins, the different mortal sins, and how many minutes with a certain venial sin could you spend before it implodes into a mortal sin.

And then at 17, a smart old priest told me study the Life of Christ. That's the point. That's the whole thing. Jesus Christ. So I got a hold of a Life of Christ. And one way you guys can do it -- you guys! I'm sorry. You fellow believers. Just St. Luke's Gospel, three minutes a day. St. Luke. Take your time. See it like a movie. Just a sentence or two. See what's going on around Christ. That's why we're here. Christ the King. Christ the Carpenter. And he sent them out two by two, Lord. Two by two. Not supposed to do it alone. If Mass is not refreshment, what is it, punishment?

The last one is "Yes." And that's a visitor from New York. He comes to visit me every summer. Former student. Taught him when he was 17. Now he's 51. He loves this place. He loves this church. He sits in the front row when he comes. And he had two yeses. You know "Y" from PRAY. Yes. Here are the two yeses. He is doing this thing I'm telling you about, about St. Luke's Gospel, three minutes a day. He's in the bathroom. He locks the door. He won't be interrupted. He has St. Luke's Gospel. It sounds weird, but some of the weird things we do with appliances and TV. And he reads St. Luke's Gospel three minutes a day, and he sees what's going on like a movie. Here's some of the things he said this week, in my cottage. Christ got mad, but he never got mad at sinners. Never. They flocked to him. Only thing our Lord got mad at was hypocrisy. Twelve guys. He walks by 12 guys and says, "Follow me," and they drop everything. What a personality Christ must have had. The face, the eyes, the power. Not Mr. America. You know what I mean by power. And when He's dying, a centurion looks up, this pagan soldier, thug -- remember? Holy smoke, this guy was the Son of God. And always he couldn't keep his hands to himself, our Lord. Always stretching and blessing, and grabbing, and holding and healing. That was the guy's first "Yes".

And the second "Yes" was do the people of Christ the King know how lucky they are? I think you do. (Beep, beep, beep!) Okay, there's the alarm. Okay. That means ten minutes are up and I got two to go. He said do Christ the King know how lucky they are? Music! The lectors rehearse! If they don't rehearse the day before, they can't be lectors. The social programs. St. Vincent de Paul, the teenage programs, the school. He especially likes it -- and Father can't do it at this Mass because we have to get going for the next one. But at the other Masses, the pastor over there, he'll get the people to turn to each other and say hello. This guy from New York loves it! He loves it when the pastor turns to the people and says, Greet your neighbor and say what color shorts you're wearing today. Gets them to relax. I

know you know all this stuff. You didn't need to hear anything from me about that, about if going to Mass and to the church on the weekend is not for refreshment, what is it, punishment? It's not punishment. So, Lord, we're here. Looks good. And we ask -- WE ask, refresh us.

cml