St. Matthias church in Evans City.
What an adorable little church. Sometimes I like these just a little bit better than the one we currently attend but that's a talk for another time. For now, it was nice to worship in a place with 15 rows of pews on each side, surrounded by others who have come to worship...many with 4 or 5 little ones in tow. Kind of reminded me of my parish in KY:
altar, tabernacle, St. Joseph, Blessed Mother, Crucifix. That's all you need
Unfortunately, the lack of mosaics on the ceiling prevented the tiny man from being well-behaved but otherwise, we did our best I think. It was wonderful to be in this church on this day, to hear in the homily that the Church is people...not buildings. Having been lots of places and in lots of Catholic Church buildings, I wholeheartedly agree.
That was just gravy though because we were going for another reason. Today, after Mass, the traveling relics of St. Gianna Molla were there.
Not just, "aren't they pretty to look at" relics. These were her actual gloves that you could pick up and touch. We held them as a family and asked her to guide us to God as she did always in her life. I asked for her motherly blessings on me as I try to raise my children and set a good example. We held them to our wedding bands and asked her to watch over our marriage. DS brought his Bible and #s 1&3 brought their patron Saint medals. We heard her story again and it was really a beautiful opportunity to show them that Saints are real people that lived just like we do.
Finally, because you love a good Holy Spirit story as much as I...
We were standing in line for the relics and they announced that there were holy cards you could touch to the relic then take home. #1 leans over to me and says, "I wonder if they would let me have more than one?" I asked why and she said, "This month, Little Flowers (her girls' club that studies virtues and the Saints) is on St. Gianna."
Yes, I laughed out loud. Would she ever think to mention this before we were standing in line or does she just know that the Holy Spirit will take care of her needs? Undoubtedly. Perhaps that was her silent intention during our novena this past week. Regardless, she got the prayer cards and we were all richly blessed by the experience.
Yes, I laughed out loud. Would she ever think to mention this before we were standing in line or does she just know that the Holy Spirit will take care of her needs? Undoubtedly. Perhaps that was her silent intention during our novena this past week. Regardless, she got the prayer cards and we were all richly blessed by the experience.
We returned home and settled in for lunch. I had asked DH if I could skip out to go and run the course for an upcoming 5K (more later) and of course he said yes because he is awesome. I made my way into a largely silent town (football is out of state today) and had an amazingly beautiful run. I know there are so many areas of the country that are gorgeous but I think there is something about the places you knew when you were little that warm your heart even more. For me, it's enjoying the quiet and basking in God's beauty. How blessed I am.
"The secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for all that He, in His goodness, sends to us day after day".
St. Gianna, Pray for Us!
the Northside trail - a very nice place for a run!
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