Fr. Eric: "I wake up every morning and Thank God, especially for that first cup of coffee"

Today, like many days when I went to set up or unlock the church or went to morning mass, I have yet to have that first cup of coffee.

Only for Jesus, I go without morning coffee, I would often joke with fellow parishioners.
Fr. Eric would always remind us to be grateful, full of joy and thank God. On the days when I kept trying to put caffeine out of my mind and focus on mass, Fr. Eric would say, "I wake up every morning and Thank God, especially for that first cup of coffee."

I would kid him after mass, telling him, "thanks a lot, I was not thinking of coffee until you said that." The smile in that first photo was his response. No wonder, he liked Bart Simpson so much.

The second photo is what Fr. Eric would do for a special young parishioner and she would smile during mass. He loved children. For kids, sitting still at mass is difficult. At a Fr. Eric mass, kids felt free to express their joy. If a baby cried out, in the middle of mass, Fr. Eric would look out in the audience and say, "That's what Jesus sounded like."

Fr. Eric brought forth the love of God, the joy of faith and human compassion in an instution that does not encourage individualism and spontaneous joy.

I think Jesus would agree more with Fr. Eric. Now, I am going to go have that cup of coffee.