>This is in response to the Bright Maiden’s Conversion Stories prompt for this week. I am not a part of this group, but do sort-of know these chicas. You can get more information about Bright Maidens here.
Pax and God bless.
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| Catedral San Isidro |
It’s been almost six years since I was in the balmy seaside city of La Ceiba, Honduras. A beautiful city of contradictions. The quite fancy mall we went into while two girls were getting treated for traveler’s diarrhea was surrounded by slums. Our hotel had dirty children running around outside and in the park across from it.
It was while there that I went to my first Mass ever.
It was Sunday morning. I was the only one of my roommates to get up for church. Fortunately I was not the only one; three other girls and one of our chaperons, Sue, were waiting down in the lobby. We took off around el parque to the church, el Catedral San Isidro.
I had never been to Mass before and the fact that it was in a mixture of Spanish and Latin was no help to me. Fortunately the others could sort of keep up and I just followed suit. So they were about a beat behind every one else and I was two beats behind.
I watched as the readings were proclaimed, as the homily was given and as some children performed a short song and dance routine. (I knew enough Spanish to gather that they had had a sort of vacation Bible school the previous week.) And then began the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
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| San Isidro |
Nothing had ever felt so right as doing the sitting, kneeling, standing, kneeling dance that is involved in the Eucharistic prayer. The reverence, the need…It was reflected in all those grubby faces seated in the pews around my small group.
It was beautiful.
We joined the line for Communion and my friends told me to simply cross my arms across my chest to symbolize I only wanted a blessing. The priest, who was paler than the rest of the group, was obviously unfamiliar with this. He shoved a Communion wafer in my mouth. I quickly bypassed the wine and took off for my seat.
I was confused but happy. It was as though a little ball of joy was smothering my heart and soul and mind.
That one Mass changed me. I got home and started researching and learning about Catholicism. I soon realized that my beliefs were so very strongly in the Church.
It was almost two years later before I got to go to Mass again, and that was Easter Vigil. And it will have been almost six years later that I will have joined the Church and receive my true first Communion.
