Lovely Rituals

I'm Mennonite. Before, I was Baptist. But I live in South America... Paraguay - to be precise. This is a predominately Catholic country. There are a lot of differences between my protestant religious backgrounds and the Catholic faith. But there are also a lot of similarities. I'm not going to get into the intricacies of any of them. I just want to chat a bit about community & family.

This past Saturday evening we were invited to the First Communion of the son of some really close friends. They are Catholic. I've been to Catholic school once when i was little. But that didn't last very long. As well as I can remember, one day mom caught me praying Hail Mary and crossing myself under the dining room table and she pulled me and my little sister straight out of the private Catholic school we attended. We went back to homeschooling. But the intrigue remained. It was always a curious religious group to me... so much ritual and liturgy. It was always so alluring. I love rituals.

And my dear friend was going to celebrate her son's First Communion. I couldn't miss out! Let me explain a bit more... i live in a compound where all the people who live here are of the Mennonite faith - except this one family. I've gone to church with everyone else here... had Communion with all the others... prayed with all the others... gone to prayer group with most the others... etc. But with this one family (who are also Christian -- just not Mennonite) I haven't been able to do anything of religious significance with. If you believe in God and also are a part of a community of faith, you understand the need to bond with your fellow brother/sister-in-Christ. I felt this need for my Catholic friend. And i got it!

At the service there was a lot going on that i really didn't understand. Most of it was new. But every once in a while i recognized one of the songs or one of the prayers. And then came the moment I had been unwittingly waiting for... The Lords Prayer! The Priest asked everyone to hold hands and lift them up and pray together. I could barely whisper out the lovely words... I was having my "moment". My friend's hand in mine, reciting together one of the most special prayers Jesus recited in the Bible. It felt like a cartoon moment... I could almost see my heart fusing with hers, molding together two into one. When the final Amen came and the priest said we could greet each other with the peace of God, i turned to her and we both had tears in our eyes. We didn't just give each other a peck on the cheek... it was a huge, sisterly bear hug.

In Christ, we are all one!