Out of the Blue

I did - though it was a strange one.

You know I've been dithering about churches for a long time. I like the church on the corner and the people are nice -- but, it's never been a place that I know I'd feel a sense of belonging to, as in "I am a member of this community." Then there's the cool pope, the pull of the Catholic Church, and the issues I have with the church.

Here comes the strangeness. I was walking this morning - thinking about things and this homeless woman with bright red hair passed me. She held up a large gold cross that hung around her neck, leaned into me and said, "You're a Catholic! You need to go to church. You need the blessings of the sacraments." She kept talking as she walked away, the wind and the traffic sounds whipping away her words. I said, "God bless you!" and continued on my way. Why would the woman peg me as a Catholic - how did she know I was Catholic when I didn't even know that? Was this some sort of sign, or was the woman just a crazy homeless woman? Did she say that to everyone or was there something special about me. And why had I never seen her before? I walk the beach regularly and I know most of the homeless community here by sight.

So I walk away and I pray, "Okay, God, if you want me to go to mass tomorrow, then I need another sign. Not something I go looking for, something clear and unexpected and out of the blue."

Lorella emails me and asks me how to pray. She's tentatively reconnecting with her Catholic faith and the email was full of that as well. I wondered if this was a second nudge from God, but it wasn't all that unexpected. God has been courting Lorella for a while now. As we are both Catholics who have issues with the Church, it's natural we should talk about that. So, I decided that was not a sign and I would be going to the church on the corner, exploring Protestantism.

Then, Dana and I go to Presto Pasta and I'm eating my Greek salad, bemoaning the fact that pasta is so dang fattening and always leaves me bloated and uncomfortable and Dana pipes up, "If I was to belong to any religion, I would be a Catholic." Then she continues her dance conversation as if she hadn't said that at all.

"You'd be Catholic? Really?"

"I don't know why I said that. It just came right out of the blue." I narrowed my eyes and figured God, if God used such language in tweets, would be LMFAO right about now. Dana continued, "I guess I just identify with Catholicism."

I told Dana the story of the homeless woman and the significance of "right out of the blue" and that I guessed I'd be going to mass tomorrow. "Yeah, go to mass. If I wasn't going to my dad's, I would go with you." Then she paused, looked thoughtful, and said, "You know, stuff like this really makes me believe in God."

Me too, kid, me too.