The Pews

The Pews

  Sometimes when you least expect it, a thought takes over your mind and it starts to transform your heart and during the transformation your soul is touched by the Holy Spirit and a new realization of life is born.  A few weeks back while sitting in the pew at church a new realization hit me as I sat staring at the pews. I need to go back even a bit more to explain this. 

     On Saturdays I go to mass because I help with RCIA on Sundays and we are sent out  after the Homily to start class, so I am not able to sit through a full mass. On a few Saturdays I may go to confession at 3 and stay in church till the mass starts at 5 or sometimes get there after 4 to be able to spend some quiet time before hand praying. On occasion a husband and wife will get there about the same time as me. He helps his wife get out of the car after he sets up the walker and now the wheelchair and I try to be there to open the door for them. You see, it seems that his wife has Alzheimers and it is progressing at a steady rate. I do not know them on a personal level but just from church. Yet, they have played a role in a new realization in my life.

     A few weeks ago as I mentioned I was sitting in the pew praying after confession and I heard them enter the church because, as I said it seems to be progressing and when they  enter she sometimes is upset or is trying to say something loud but unfortunately it doesn’t come out clear. I turned to smile at them and it hit me. As I turned and saw him helping her to the pew where he sits and she sits beside him in her wheelchair , I got a strong sense of the people who sit in these pews and everything that they bring with them. Their joys. Their pain. Their suffering. Their faith. Their families. Their illnesses. Their successes. Their struggles. Their beliefs. Their burdens. Their grief. Their... everything. 

       I turned back and just looked around the church at every pew and seat and thought about the people that have sat there and will sit there and everything that they bring with them to mass. Yes, we all know people have things going on in their lives but have you really ever just sat there and looked around and let it sink in? It was a bit overwhelming the thoughts and feelings that started to stir in me. Then as the Priest was leaving the confessional, I thought and here is the person who is In Persona Christi and tries to help with all of those things that people bring. It makes it all so clear to me why the priesthood and religious life is so needed and how we must pray for more vocations and pray for the priests and the religious who help serve those people in the pews.

        This week as you are at mass, look around and pray for all those who are there, have been there and will be there in the pews. I have not walked in the church the same since that Saturday. The pews have a new life to them. 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may we always think about and pray for  those who were, who are and who will be around us. 

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

Lectionary: 178

Reading 1

IS 26:1-6

On that day they will sing this song in the land of Judah:

“A strong city have we;

he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us.

Open up the gates

to let in a nation that is just,

one that keeps faith.

A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace;

in peace, for its trust in you.”

Trust in the LORD forever!

For the LORD is an eternal Rock.

He humbles those in high places,

and the lofty city he brings down;

He tumbles it to the ground,

levels it with the dust.

It is trampled underfoot by the needy,

by the footsteps of the poor.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 118:1 AND 8-9, 19-21, 25-27A

R. (26a) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, 

for his mercy endures forever.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in princes. 

R. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Open to me the gates of justice;

I will enter them and give thanks to the LORD.

This gate is the LORD’s;

the just shall enter it.

I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me

and have been my savior.

R. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

O LORD, grant salvation!

O LORD, grant prosperity!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD;

we bless you from the house of the LORD.

The LORD is God, and he has given us light.

R. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Alleluia

IS 55:6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Seek the LORD while he may be found;

call him while he is near.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’

will enter the Kingdom of heaven,

but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them

will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 

The rain fell, the floods came,

and the winds blew and buffeted the house. 

But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. 

And everyone who listens to these words of mine

but does not act on them

will be like a fool who built his house on sand. 

The rain fell, the floods came,

and the winds blew and buffeted the house. 

And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”