A Word: Withstand

This steeple’s days are numbered. A group of historic preservationists are attempting to convince church leaders to keep the building. This parish had merged with other small Catholic congregations about twenty years ago. Other church buildings from the group have been converted to Community Use buildings – a housing administration, a men’s homeless shelter, a business incubator, a parent resource center. But, this church is no longer in use and its fate may be to be demolished; the site slated for modern development.

Shuttered to worship, the slivers of light from the stained glass windows fall on empty pews. Once bustling with daily and weekly Mass schedules and celebrations of the sacraments, it is now facing crumble. I remember attending a wedding there one year when I was in my early twenties. I attended funerals there and a baptism or two. Though this wasn’t my church home, it was home to generations of my neighbors.

I am not sure how I feel about the building’s failure to withstand. As a girl with strong Catholic roots, I love tradition and ritual. It is so easy to feel God in the midst of a gospel reading or homily at Mass. It is so easy to feel God there with the incense and candles. It is so easy to feel God there in the voices of the Men’s Choir leading all in familiar hymns. It is so easy to feel the safety of God in the familiar sacred setting. It is easiest for me to feel God in an 19th Century church. Here I breath in holiness and even dot myself with the holy waters. If you know, you know.

One must be careful to not become sad with nostalgia. The times are past, I miss them. Wasn’t it great then with all those Easter Bonnets and white sandals? Yet, I can smile because they happened and open my heart to living other great moments that will carry me close to God. Decades past my confirmation in the Catholic Faith, I now am seeing God in the spaces of the everyday. This isn’t easy, as it wasn’t something I picked up in my Catechism. The everyday is full with so many distractions and obligations. Despite this, it is hands down worth the effort. When you seek God, He reveals himself.

Faith, hope, and love are the gifts that withstand. God’s grace and everlasting glory remains. The steeple is nice, a beacon. Yet, we can all be beacons of God’s love. Just let your light shine.