Persevering Paige

My last few weeks of summer vacation are winding down and soon I will be a first year teacher in the thick of it. I’m embracing my time off but also trying to use it wisely. A week ago I moved 2 hours and 45 minutes away so I’ve had a lot of things to put away and a new place to learn, somewhat. Yesterday afternoon I went to daily mass at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in my new home, which happens to be a beautiful cathedral. I’ve never been inside and thought there’s no better opportunity. There are 3 Catholic churches nearby and I’ve been wanting to try them all out to see which one feels most like “home”.

I arrived at the church and parked in hopefully, a space that was alright to park in…but fear not, my car was still there afterwards. I walked up to the doors of what I think was the front of the beautiful building, but very well could have been the side or the back. There were three large wooden doors. I went to the far right door first, only to find that it was locked. The middle door too, locked. And the left side door, locked as well. Looking confused and also looking to see if anyone was watching, I walked around and went to the sliding glass door on the other side. This door said automatic and was not opening, because it was turned off and locked. Standing there, I was looking inside at the scaffolding and wondering if I would actually make it to mass or if this would be a trip simply to admire the cathedral from outside, I noticed two older ladies get out of a car in the street. They were clearly also going to go to mass, so I waited, hoping they would tell me where to go. They saw me and said, “Hi are you here for mass?” I said, “Yes, but the doors are all locked.” They looked at me and one of the women responded, “Mass is in the social hall since they are working on the inside and it’s full of scaffolding. The social hall is this building right here”, pointing next door. I thanked them and followed them along. When we got inside, the same lady told me, “There’s also adoration on Thursday’s right after mass.”

This was a much more meaningful experience, being Paige, than it probably should have been. It got me thinking….how many times does that happen to us in life? We think our requests in prayer or in life are locked out from us or from God’s willingness to say yes. We think we will never have _____, whatever our hearts may need. Yet, how many times do we not run off frustrated after the first door is locked, or the second, or the third? Or the fourth? It took four doors for me to find the way to mass, but I got there. I may not have gotten to attend mass inside of a beautiful cathedral, but I was there. God’s way may look different than the way we want things to be, but we can be open to that and experience the fullness of life. It wasn’t locked from me, I just needed to look a different way.

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