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Re-directing

At the Saturday night Mass, while playing for the offertory, I saw a young family taking up the gifts.  I hadn't seen this particular family before.  They were a large family and it took a while for them all to process down the aisle.  However, what first caught my heightened attention was that the father was returning much slower than the rest and seemed to be lagging behind.  Then I noticed a sound that seemed to be proceeding him.  There was a rhythm to it that reminded me of when my elderly mother recently started using a walker.  Every now and then the father bent over.  As he turned the corner from the central aisle to the aisle in front of the piano, I saw that it was his youngest child, wearing leg braces, and walking with the tiniest walker I had ever seen that was slowly preceding him.  Then he bent over again, and this time I saw why.  When his daughter lifted and placed her walker, it sometimes shifted her a bit off course.  Her father would then gently re-orient the walker and thus re-direct his daughter on course.  I thought it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

It's a beautiful thing every time a family carries up the gifts to be received by the priest who places them on the altar.  It is a sacred sign of our offering our selves with Christ to God.  But this particular family touched me in a special way.  I saw myself in that little girl, and my Heavenly Father in her father as he walked behind her and gently re-directed her whenever she began to veer off course.

This little girl was beaming.  She was all dressed up, her hair was shiny and lovely, but what shone the most was her face: she was smiling from ear to ear!  Even though I saw her braces and her walker, I didn't see this child as disfigured or disabled.  I saw her as empowered!  I saw her pride and her joy in having participated in presenting the gifts on behalf of us all.  And I saw her wholeness in knowing she is loved!

Thank You Jesus for showing me Yourself (and myself!) in this beautifully loving family.  Thank You Abba for all the times you gently and lovingly re-direct me.  And thank You Holy Spirit for empowering me to participate in offering back the gifts You have given us all to share.
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