Monday was shaping up to be "one of those days." There was a scheduled trip to Celina in the morning for Anne's immunizations, and an unanticipated appointment in Dayton mid-afternoon for Emma's orthopaedic consult. Throw in lunch for the kids at home, a baby who still wants to nurse every 2 hours, a stop to gas up the van, and a few e-mails/phone calls to keep John and grandparents in the loop, and my head was starting to spin.
As I was returning home from Celina with my sweet Anne sleeping soundly in her carseat, I was reminded of a recent dream I'd had about a sweet parish in sleepy St. Sebastian, OH. A tiny church in the middle of farm country. Population... a dozen or so? I had thought about visiting that church several times since, but really never had the time or energy to swing by...mostly the time. Today for some reason, I couldn't resist the urge. I argued in my mind that today was NOT a good day...too much to do, too little time. And yet, for some reason before I could resist, my van was pulling into the church parking lot. I gave myself 10 minutes. Just 10 minutes wouldn't throw me too far off schedule. It was as if I could feel the Blessed Mother calling me in.
As I entered the quiet church (one I've never visited before, by the way...except in a dream...weird, I know) I was surprised to find the Monstrance on the alter, Christ present for Adoration. In our area, with clustering of parishes, and so many small beautiful churches often closed for lack of priests...I couldn't believe it. There was one other woman there, praying quietly and she welcomed me with a smile as Anne and I entered. I sat quietly in prayer for those 10 minutes, humbled that Mother Mary should think to invite me in to spend time with her son. Who am I?
And yet in those 1o minutes with thoughts of the recent gospel readings still fresh in my mind, I realized that we are all invited in, aren't we? Through the waters of Baptism we are each personally invited to a closer relationship with Him. Yet, somehow in our crazy busy lives, we tend to put that relationship on the back burner. At least I find that I do. I had called mom to tell her about Emma's appt, texted my Dad, e-mailed John at work, called school to let them know I'd be taking her out early. Did I ever stop to ask Jesus to be with her? I'm not so certain I did, aside from prayer before mass on Sunday. I feel so blessed, and grateful for the gift of our Mother in heaven, who took a moment to pull me aside, invite me in, to help me remember the relationships that are most important...the One who wants to share in our daily burdens...her Son. I am most grateful for the time, even just 10 minutes of time spent solely with Him. It was beautiful and encouraging and uplifting. A blessing. I bet you got your invitation too...have you RSVP'd?
