St. Anthony’s Mass Reflections

Today, I traveled north to see my family and also fulfill an important civic duty. This is a story for another time. While in Rockland County, I stopped at Costco to fuel my trusty roadmaster, “Ava,” and decided to attend daily Mass.

A quick search led me to nearby St. Anthony’s Church in Nanuet, a beautiful church with a shrine where Mass was held this morning, and it was packed when I arrived. The homily was thought-provoking, drawing directly from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, where Jesus speaks of the first being last and the last first.

As I sat there, I reflected on the mystery of our free will, this gift from God that allows each of us to seek our own path, including our journey toward knowing and following Him.

Seeing all those people gathered there in the morning, I wondered: at what point did each and every one of us decide to deepen our relationship with the Lord? Some of us might have been guided from birth, nurtured by parents who sowed the seeds of faith in us. Others might have found God through friends, colleagues, or perhaps through life’s trials. And yet, regardless of when or how we came to faith, we are all moving along the same path, just at different stages: first, last or in between. After Mass, I had the pleasure of speaking with a 90 year old nun. She told me she has been a nun for over 70 years. There we go, I said, her walk with our Lord dwarfs my entire existence. 

This also brought me back to my school days, where students were often ranked from top to bottom, a system that implied that those who excelled academically and always first would excel in life. That was always the notion. But life, much like faith, doesn’t follow a predictable path. Those who ranked highest in school weren’t necessarily guaranteed success, and those who struggled at the bottom weren’t destined to fail either. So it is with faith: being the first to believe or the most consistent in church attendance doesn’t promise us a place at God’s banquet.

 God must have His own way of seeing us that we’ll never fully understand. But one thing we can all be certain of is that God loves us and blessed us unconditionally with the gift of life. My life and your life weren’t earned through anything special we did, it is all a gift.

In the end, we’re all sojourners and seekers, each on a unique journey toward God. Our arrival may not depend on when we started but on the sincerity of our desire to know Him, follow His ways, and do His will.

Life’s journey, and our spiritual one, are full of unexpected turns and surprises. May we find comfort in that mystery and encouragement to keep moving forward, wherever we are on this path.

May we continue to seek, know and love Him more daily. 

God bless.

I remain your pal,  

Ronnie