First Communion

My oldest son Alejandro received his 1st Eucharist on May 12th! It was a day we were all looking forward to, especially because we had attended his cousin’s 1st Communion the Saturday before, and his other cousin’s the Saturday before that!  The next day, Sunday, he told his cousin   that he was excited for two reasons: he was going to receive Communion again, and we were going to watch Spider-Man 3.  Sure enough he did both.  My wife and I have now reached a new stage of our family faith life, now that one of our children has reached this milestone (I mean going to communion, not Spider-Man 3)  However, I was able to deliver a little religious instruction during the movie!  There was a scene where Spider-Man traveled to a Church steeple where he ended up fighting the alien that had taken over his suit.  At the same time a guy who hated Peter Parker arrived at the same Church and prayed in this way, “God I come to you in all humility and beg you to listen to my request…KILL PETER PARKER!”.  Well Peter Parker’s fight with the alien suit seemed like a good metaphor for how we fight sin in our lives and how coming to Church helps us win this battle.  The guy’s sorry excuse for a prayer, shows us how evil can enter into our lives because as soon as the alien left Peter Parker (thanks to the ringing of the bells) it ended up on the guy, who became the evil “Venom”. Adán Medrano would be proud of me! Adán heads a company in Houston that is interested in the topic of media and spirituality. His big thing is that instead of the Church trying to create opportunities to bring the faith to people, it should take advantage of the faith and spirituality that is already present and acknowledge and celebrate it.  For many people waiting in line for a movie is a religious experience, so for my son I just drew out a truth about my faith that was already there. Thanks for the tip Adán!