There were forty-five people at the 7 am Mass today. I counted. Most of these faithful people are at daily Mass. The majority are seniors, but there are several thirty-something men and women who also show up. They come because the Mass is beautiful, enriching and unchanging in its essentials throughout the centuries –at least. this is why I think that they come..
Over there, kneeling, is an eighty-one year old man whose wife left him two years ago. They had been married over twenty-five years. His wonderfully strong voice rings out when he is lector at Mass, as he was this morning. He’s here most mornings to pray with us.
Coming up to me after Mass is the white-haired lady who introduces herself as the mother of the woman who died a year ago and for whom today’s Mass was especially offered. She has some difficulty keeping here composure when she talks to me of her daughter. This Mass meant very much to her. Then, there is the father who brings his two grade school sons to church most days. They sit at the left of the altar in the
middle of the church.
All of these people come to the Eucharist for blessing, for grace and yes, for communion with the rest of those who got up this morning to pray. Where else could they go this morning when God calls them?