IHM 2nd Annual Camping Jamboree

I just returned from the parish camping trip. It was a great trip and we already can’t wait for next summer for the 3^rd annual camping trip with our parish family! Frequently over the last two days I remembered words from one of Father Matt’s homilies, “we can encounter God in nature, but it is here at mass, in the Eucharist we can actually receive Christ.”  Now that homily was a long time ago so I might have the exact words wrong but that was pretty much what he said.   I got the best of both worlds this weekend since I was out in nature, had fellowship with my parish family, participated in mass, and received the Eucharist all at once!  It was fantastic! It’s true, nothing compares to receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in communion. It is simply the most intimate interaction with God that we can participate in here on Earth.  The paradox of it is that it is a deeply private and intimate experience between us and Jesus, and we share it with the entire church.  We share it with the priests and with the parishes, everywhere. One of the most beautiful things I have seen at a few masses is when there is more than one priest at the alter.  (Father Greg was the only one with us on the camping trip but I have been to a few masses with more than one priest.)  When there is more than one priest at the prayers before communion all priests who are at the alter will stretch out there hands over the Eucharist at the time of transubstantiation. I love watching the priests at that moment; it reminds me of the way that at this moment when Heaven and Earth connect, all the masses ever said on Earth connect with the forever eternal worship in heaven.  All the priests and every mass are connected. Okay, that doesn’t have much to do with the camping trip other than it is something that I was thinking about this weekend.

We arrived at the campground around 7:30 PM Friday and checked into our lodge room. It was a very cozy lodge room considering we were in a tent last year.  At 8:00 PM there was a group campfire where all the parishioners who were there gathered around and we got briefed on what activities were taking place Saturday and Sunday.  We didn’t really do much else other than get settled in on Friday evening. Saturday we were invited to join another family at their RV site for Breakfast and for Dinner. For lunch the entire parish including Father Greg gathered for one giant potluck camping BBQ. There was more then enough food to go around for everyone.  After Breakfast a group of us went for a nature hike. The trail we took was called “Beaver Falls”. We could here the roaring water for a while before we could see it.  When we reached the water it was also a point on the trail that got extremely steep. A few of us stopped for a break there.  A couple of people didn’t go any further, especially those with very small kids. At that spot I saw in the roaring and raging river, a large rock standing firm and sure even with the water crashing against it.  I said to someone who was with us, Linda, that I thought it was a great image for St. Peter!  She agreed, but when I went up the steep trail just past the rock I discovered I was wrong. Just a little bit above that rock was a wider part of the river, falling and crashing, and a rock that was maybe 10X’s larger than the other one!  So when I went back down I told Linda about that other rock. I said we should call that much larger one “St Peter’s rock” and the smaller must be more like the priests! So I thought we should call the other one below “Father Greg’s rock” since Father Greg is the priest who brought our parish on this wonderful trip.  Father Greg wasn’t with us on the hike, I am not sure if he got to hear about the rock being named after him.  I found out during his homily this morning though that he had gone on a hike on that same trail later on Saturday. He was alone and he sat under a rock right next to that exact part of the river and he noticed a cross in the large rock on the bank that he had gone under to get out of the rain.  It was a comfort to him while he was feeling a bit lonely for a while.  I will be sure to send him a copy of this blog in case he doesn’t know.

On Saturday we also had candy bar bingo, a scavenger hunt for the kids, a sunset prayer circle led by Father Greg, and songs around a night campfire. One fun thing about the scavanger hunt is that "give father Greg a hug" was one item on the list. Father Greg was suddenly very hard to find for a while but eventually we hunted him down! Some of the group did “low ropes” which is a set of challenges they had to complete as group. Each family had an assignment from father Greg to make a cross from things we found in nature around the camp area.  We were to have something on it to represent each member of the family and it should in some way represent the pains and trials we bring from our lives to the cross.  We presented them at mass and explained them. Everyone had amazing explanations for the things they chose on their family cross! It was very moving.  If I went into detail about everything this blog would be too long to read. Over all it was a wonderful weekend!