Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Let the little children come to me..............


I took Sarah Cate with me the other day to the Adoration Chapel at my church. They needed someone to fill in for the 11-12 hour and I told them I would do it. This was with much trepidation.....to sit quietly and reflect on the presence of Jesus can be a little hard for me without a toddler - I can easily get distracted and I can feel unworthy. BUT add in to the mix making sure Sarah was not tearing up the chapel or running amuck in front of the most holy presence of our Lord, well it was intimidating. There were actually a couple people in the chapel with us, so of course I was hoping Sarah wouldn't distract their time of prayer.

The chapel is wonderful, a peace filled place. I just feel good walking in. Its truly amazing to pray and personally reflect on what Jesus means and to have him present in the room is really awesome. Sarah was SO good....of course she was running back and forth in the pew, but she only left it once to look at some flowers in front of the altar. To try to keep things as reverant as I could, I got out my rosary beads with the intention of saying the rosary and the divine mercy chaplet...which would also help time to go by without me sitting there thinking.."What do I do now". Sarah grabbed my beads - they were actually my moms, and put them aroud her neck and gave me a huge smile. She did let me read her a couple of her books about Jesus. I pointed out Jesus to her on the cross and in the monstrance. I THOUGHT we were alone so I started to sing the Divine Mercy Chaplet - which she did get quiet and still....I got out a chant of the Our Father, Hail Mary and the Apostles Creed when I realized that the old man who was there when I walked in, was still in the back.....so I finished the Divine Mercy Chaplet silently while watching Sarah.

What kept running in my head over and over was "I am the Way, The Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me". Its so funny how you recieve different messages each time you spend time in the chapel.

Of course my contemplation was interupted many times by falling books, a child running back and forth and dropping her goldfish - yes I gave her snacks to try to keep her quiet and I had to make sure I picked them up. As I started to feel unworthy or like I wasn't being reverant as I picked up a dropped cracker, I heard in my head the verse "let the little children come to me"....

I am sure Jesus was happy that I was there - he told me that He is the way to the Father....as being in His presence brings me closer to my Father and then he told me was REALLY happy that Sarah was there also. She was so cute smiling and waving to the other few who came and left in our hour.....I wondered if somehow God was working through her showing us how happy he was that we were spending time with Him and His Son. Adoration is so wonderful, I love being Catholic.



Christ and ChildArtist: Danny Hahlbohm

2 comments:

Karen said...

Love this--we had that verse ("Let the little children come to me ...") on Kate's birth announcements.

Your post also reminded me of this passage from Matthew 18:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

Thanks for the reminder!

donna said...

Julie. I love this post. Your post always brings me back to what's important. It's always nice to be reminded.