Notes from a stairwell

From my notebook writing before liturgy...

"9:51 AM. Tucked into the stairwell above the entrance to the main church level, waiting for the 9:00 Mass to let out but not in any hurry. I am quite comfortable, actually...warm, pleasantly secure, and in a position to hear and see much. Listening to the cantor sing during communion-- "Soon and Very Soon" which blended into the Taize "Jesus Remember Me." So lovely and so smooth the pieces fitting into one another. It occurs to me as I sit here, listenign to bits of the Family Faith program going on in the Mary Chapel, watching people begin to gather in the foyer, and hearing the movement that indicates the close of Mass, that a stairwell might not be where most would choose to perch while picking up a pen and paper. What is it about this place that speaks to me of being at home? Hmm.

I think some is that it is a bit worn and rubbed down at the edges from years of use and prayer. The whole building. The steps are scooped out in the middle from a hundred plus years of ascent and descent, the pews are darkened and worn to a shine. Yes, I find God in the broken-in-ness. That, actually, is where I most readily find God. There is a depth, a longevity, a history, to what is broken-in. A comfort in one's own being. Perhaps it is me who is becoming broken-in and more comfortable...

Funny, this makes me think of one of my favorite words...glory. There is a depth there for me too. A history, a richness that comes with living, with seeing, tasting, knowing, feeling. The glory of God made known in me? Deeper and deeper it reaches to draw out the story, the richness, the full-being-ness. Instead of dust to dust, perhaps instead glory unto glory--from the creative, story-filled, loving, depths of God to broken-in and flexible, stretchable, open humanity and then back again to the heart of all that is most wondrous, most just, most compassionate, most glorious..."