It went off without a hitch. I had a team of volunteers comprised of adults and teenagers (my son and his friends) come in and serve lunch to each table, pour water and iced tea, clear it all away, and then break it all down at the end of the event and reset the hall for mass, as our church is also the parish hall. To see the willing adults and teens give up their Saturday for an opportunity to serve the Lord in this way was truly awesome to witness.
During mass, my pastor asked me to come up to the pulpit after communion and say a few words of thanks. I knew I'd be a little nervous, but when I got up there and looked at the multitudes of beautiful pro-life faces, I became overwhelmed. Here I was on the altar getting ready to speak to some of Christ's soldiers, and who was I to address them? I surely felt Christ's presence on the altar. We had all just consumed him in the Eucharist. He was now flowing through our blood and we were as one body. I got choked up, but thanked everyone for fighting for the truth and for fighting for Him - not just in their parishes, but everyday in every aspect of their lives. I saw truth and beauty staring back at me in the faces of young and old, male and female all fighting for LIFE.
For months, I had been concerned about our event coinciding with another event at our parish on the same day - one that would need the kitchen as well. It was a bit of a scheduling snafu and I was a little upset at first, but then I gave it over to the Lord and trusted in His ways. The day would be the way He wanted it to be. The other event I'm speaking of is one called Emmaus. It is a Catholic weekend retreat, based on the "Road to Emmaus" story in the Bible, meant to deepen your relationship with or begin your relationship with Christ. I had actually gone through Emmaus two years ago, and as a result I became the Respect Life Ministry head for our parish where we had not really had a ministry there before. So, as the morning preparations were underway, people were filing into the Church, and volunteers were diligently working in the kitchen, it struck me that the scheduling snafu would not even be occurring if it hadn't been for me going through Emmaus. Wow! This Archdiocesan Respect Life luncheon would not even be occurring at our parish this year had I not gone through the Emmaus retreat two years earlier. How awesome our God is! Someone told me that the Emmaus retreat is like an onion - you keep peeling away layers as time goes on. True in my case; very true.
How wonderful our Lord is that He would wait on a lowly servant such as myself, put me to work at this life-saving ministry, only to put these two programs (Respect Life and Emmaus) head-to-head. I almost wonder how sad it would be had I not realized the connection. What if I had just been upset about the two events coinciding on the same day - even though I had scheduled my event before the Emmaus weekend. What if my pride had stood in the way of recognizing what God had used me for and how He continues to use me? What if I had been selfish and demanded Emmaus move their weekend? I trusted in the Lord. I knew it was happening for a reason, and that reason became evident to me Saturday morning. It's difficult to put our pride aside and stop trying to rule the roost, but I can tell you it never ends well if you don't. God is clearly in charge and He has a mission for each one of us if we listen!
No comments:
Post a Comment