Come Together

So, I think I put off blogging about Haiti for some of the same reasons I put off prepping for Advent. It just seems sooo big and so beyond me that nothing I could possibly do would be good enough. But, um, hello? How AWFUL is that? As if I could do anything anyways?! All I can do is offer up my heartfelt prayer and trust right now that He is doing something with it.

I had been to Mass and certainly prayed about and for Haiti since the earthquake, but it took today's Sunday Mass to really drive the reality home for me. The readings seemed so fitting- the promise of hope. And also this time of remembering Martin Luther King and his dream of peace- it just seemed like people were really united and coming together in prayer and spirit amid the sorrow.

God definitely spoke to me through this sense of community and the readings today (also, I am taking a liturgy class this semester so I'm sure my Mass awareness is heightened of late ;) The idea and promise that places and people will no longer be called desolate as Isaiah speaks of in the first reading is SO encouraging and hopeful as we look at the wreckage on the news, and then the 2nd reading from Paul about our individual spiritual gifts being given for the good of the whole...just perfect for right now. The promise of hope and the need for one another I think are just the words we need to hear as we think about this time and Haiti.

Personally for me, the readings also spoke to me about the waiting that I've been writing and praying so much about. In today's Gospel, Jesus performs His first miracle in which the best is saved for last. Now if you think about it, how much SENSE does that make? Why not perform your first miracle at the BEGINNING for all to SEE and before they get tipsy??? Which is what I say to God on a regular basis (not the before tipsy part, but okay, it happens) but the, 'Okay, how 'bout NOW, God? Doesn't it make sense for You do to X,Y,and/or Z NOW?? But no....He saves it for LATER.

The priest emphasized this theme of "the best is yet to come" which is SUCH a message of HOPE. The best is yet to come in our lives, for people who are suffering, and for all of us in heaven. This is not the be all end all.

So definitely a message I needed to hear as I still struggle with the goings on (or lack thereof) in my life, and also particularly as we pray for those despairing in Haiti and those who have suffered for peace and justice in the past, as those who particiapte in civil rights.

At Mass, we sang the usual "Gather" songs, that I as a music minister, just roll my eyes at every week. You know the ones. The 'City of God''s or the 'Gather Us In's'. And I've probably just offended someone right now, but I doubt David Haas reads this blog (yet). But you know, songs that you have heard week after week, year after year, and they have become void of most meaning. I'm looking at you, "Here I am, Lord"

But today singing "Blest Are They" and "Make Me A Channel of Your Peace" seemed appropriate and did not trigger my normal eye rolling. The Beatitudes- which are the heart of the aforementioned song- definitely seemed to be a match for the current situation in Haiti. The Beatitudes are so puzzling- blessed are those who suffer. What? Blessed are those who thirst. Huh? It doesn't make sense! And surely neither does the chaos of natural disaster and mass suffering. But rather than despair, we can look at the mystery and message of the Beatitudes and trust that one day we will be consoled. The wine of Christ's miracles is possible- it is just being saved for the right moment.

And so, I am united, I'm sure with all of you in praying for those deeply affected by disaster in Haiti and the hope for humanity to come as we unite and look to Christ.
Peace,
Julia