gift

Autumn is creeping into the trees and the temperature, and that is a reminder to find a moment to appreciate the gift of now, to find in this moment the tokens of love  that life can offer.  The practice of Catholicism, the daily prayers and the weekly liturgies, the symbols of stained glass and the statues of saints are simply reminders that there is more to life than the social media assault that occurs each day and the draining frenetic pace of life and work.  Catholicism is a reminder to breathe deeply, to trust that our lives and worries rest in Hands bigger than ours, and it is possible to simply breathe deeply and know peace as well as purpose.

It is odd to me that this morning, kneeling with my family and surrounded by neighbors,  that there in the weaving of words and silence, is the shared sense that God is present.  And more so, that there at the altar, is the place for worries, for stress and anxiety to be laid down.  There, before the altar, the place for flaws and weakness, sin and sorrow and celebration, laid there, offered there.  And there, God simply being with, being present to, weeping with us and smiling with us.  And there, too, as we depart, the sense that life is ours for the living, ours for the choices, ours for the decisions about what to do and how to live and whether or not to rush out of the parking lot or fly into road rage…..but looking back, not matter what the choice, there is a continuity to Catholicism that allows today to become yesterday and tomorrow to remain a promise. That poised position, so  intensely now and so elegantly eternal, that is the gift of Catholicism to me….

And so it seems the ordinary moments are actually quite extraordinary perceived through a different lens.  This moment matters.  Today matters.  You matter.  In that Eucharistic moment, the reality is that each of us can be the Hands and Heart of Christ for each other.  Each of us bound to something bigger, each of us with lives that matter.  Each of us is part of the carpet of color that flows over the hills in the richness of autumn, and each of us has a place at home.

Sometimes I wonder if the strains that are engulfing society are due not only to the rise of social media but to the abandonment of the inistitutions that seemed so much to have failed us but nevertheless still offer those reminders, those moments.  Perhaps it is about the fact of flawed ness, the brokenness, and the need to be bound to something greater than self….Catholicism invites wondering…..