It is the simplest tasks that have brought me joy in the last month.
For most of the Sundays in February I have been the first person at the church. It is so special and quiet to be in an empty church on a Sunday morning in the heart of a city. I would light the candle under the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue. I would set out the cantor and lector microphones. I would check to see if the plants needed water. I would set out the programs at the back of the church. As I did all these “small” tasks and some others I would make my way to the front doors of the church to unlock them. The doors open in such a grand way and are more than twice the height of me. As I would swing them open I was met with the sight of St. Stephen’s Green and just a few cars driving by on a quiet Sunday morning.
If I flash forward my life 10 hours into the future I am met with more simple tasks. This time I am closing the doors to the front of the church. It is dark outside and the gates to St. Stephen’s Green have been closed. Maddie and Shane are behind me in the church sacristy putting away the last few things before we can go home or to meet friends for a pint. Whenever I walk back to the sacristy after locking up the front doors I like to walk down the center aisle of the church and think of all the prayers that were said from the pews around me that day. Like the way incense fills the air of the church on holy days, I can feel the grace of the day’s prayers around me.
These seemingly mundane moments bring me so much joy.
Whether we are making a hundred pancakes for after our Taizé service on Pancake Tuesday or researching how to get our mass time on the official St. Patrick’s Day schedule or going around to all the local hotels and giving them bookmarks with our holiday events; all we do for House of Brigid is all for the glory of God. It is all in service of the Church and for something bigger than ourselves. The simple parts of this job and Irish life bring me so much joy. I am continually grateful to be a Christian, to know that there is a God who knows me, and to know that my God is in the small tasks of my day.
