Normally at the beach Dawn and I go to the nine a.m. Mass at Holy Redeemer by the Sea in Kitty Hawk. But we’re heading further south this morning to Manteo, so we hit the eight a.m. Mass at Holy Trinity by the Sea in Nags Head. And it turns out to be a lot more charming than Holy Redeemer, just a small building, more a chapel than the big ugly modern Holy Redeemer. And with attendance measured in dozens rather than hundreds, parking is a whole lot easier as well.

Music isn’t so great though. I’ve heard it said that Catholics can’t sing, and we sure do exemplify that today. But other than that it’s a great Mass. Leading us is Fr. Glenn Willis, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales from Silver Spring and who tells us that this is his thirtieth year vacationing in the Outer Banks and helping out in this parish while he’s here. He explains to us that today’s readings are all about making choices.

The first reading is from Joshua, where Joshua gathers together all the tribes of Israel. It’s from the last chapter of the Book of Joshua. Seems like Joshua’s saying goodbye maybe. And Joshua tells them that they have to decide whom to serve, either the old gods or the new gods of the Amorites, or the Lord. Smart people, they decide on the Lord.The second reading is that rather famous exhortation from St. Paul, from Ephesians. Father Willis tells us to concentrate less on the that famous third line, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands,” and more on the too-often-overlooked second line, where St. Paul tells us that we should all “be subordinate to one another.”

The Responsorial Psalm is yet again “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord,” from Psalm Thirty-Four. Third week in a row for this one. I’m starting to get the feeling that they think this one’s really important. And continuing as well is the Gospel from St. John. Remember last week we discussed how Jesus was being deliberately shocking. This week he goes so far as to ask, “Does this shock you?”

Well, yeah. Kinda. Now that you ask.

Some of the disciples say, “This is hard.” They ask, “[W]ho can accept it?” And in fact many of them don’t accept it. They up and leave and go back to their former ways of life. It’s all about choosing whether to listen and follow, and they choose a different way.