Happy Birthday Mom!

I grew up celebrating All Saint's Day as my mother's birthday. As a family we would go to Mass and then perhaps out to eat. I love to go to Mass on Holy Days because usually you get a group of people who want to be there instead of those who just think they have to. For me the whole experience of Church is one of community. So even on those days when I am distracted, or somehow unable to pray, I still come away with a feeling of being cared for and part of my community. So what happened today? I went to Mass at Siena with 400 middle schoolers who are as unsure of themselves as they are of their community (or so I thought). Bishop Clark gave the homily and shared a story about a girl at World Youth Day who had some trouble with a song she was leading, and about the support she was given not only by her fellow choir members, but by the entire group of 20,000 attendees. And you know what? I think the kids got it. They do realize that they are a community, a communion of saints, for each other. I got it, even though I didn't feel the same community I would have in my home church, I got it. I guess that's what Christian community is supposed to be about. Amen.