Still surrendering! ;)

No sooner than two hours after my previous blog posting, God’s plans are trumping my own already.  I had not wanted to go “all the way down to” St. Ambrose for the holy day of obligation since it would require us to be in the car a half hour there and a half hour back and my parents live within walking distance of a couple Catholic churches.  Another reason I was trying to avoid our going down to Schuylkill Haven this morning was because I’m hoping that my parents will want to go to the Christmas Village tonight and doing so would require us to traverse down 61 and through Schuylkill Haven again on our way to the Village.

 I’m glad that my will did not prevail because it was nice being back in St. Ambrose again and I enjoyed the priest’s homily that discussed the importance of motherhood/parenthood and Mary’s place in our lives.  We had done Christmas Morning mass there the other day and the altar was still beautifully decorated with the poinsettias, manger scene, and pine trees aglow with white lights.  As I sat in the beautiful wooden semi-circle church, I pondered the carvings of the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus that are in the wall to the left of the altar and the larger than life depiction of the Cross of the Resurrection at the front of the church.  These are scenes I’ve observed countless times over the years since St. Ambrose was our church of choice when living in Frackville.  I completed a year of CCD there when I first left the Catholic school and attended public school.  Although I never officially belonged to St. Ambrose as a parishioner, I still felt a small sense of coming home attending mass there.  I remember going there the morning after a particularly devastating break-up several years ago and hearing the words, “You are Mine”, when the song was sung and being unable to contain the tears in the pew.  Hearing the confirmation that no matter the life circumstances, we are still precious in the eyes of the Lord was exactly what I needed that dreary early November Sunday morning.

I experienced a similar message this morning after Communion when the cantor spontaneously sang “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” after the Communion song had been sung.  This song was not posted on the board with the other song page numbers and did not go with the theme of the other songs that had been sung (e.g., Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Angels Have Heard on High) up to that point.  I’m thankful to have been present for that mass to hear the song and message!!

This was the third mass, in less than 7 days, that I attended with my parents.  I love how my Dad always stands aside when he exits the pew to let the women go up ahead of him, whether it is to receive Communion or to leave the church.  Such gentlemanly gestures are not as common in today's society and it's nice to know that I can always count on my Dad to be the top notch man he is.