By Becky Schlofner
“When two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them, there I’ll be.”
Not to start with an obvious statement, but this does cover it spot on and in a nutshell.
St. Elizabeth Seton and her church family holds a special place in my heart. I was part of the music ministry there beginning in 2010 until 2016, when I moved east to New Jersey. You see, you people are amazing. I mean it. The entire congregation sings with the music ministers and you mean what you sing. You respond from your soul to His Word. Also, those choir member pals of mine aren’t so bad either. That doesn’t happen everywhere. Especially not out here in the east coast where I am now. So, now I really miss my church family.
The silver lining in having a world just stop in its tracks, is the advent of massive video streaming, including that of the Masses at our own Seton community. Well, I found that to be a fantastic boost to my weekly attendance. I mean, I was kicking around moving to a different church out here in Pennsylvania, and was having issues finding something I could connect to. So, hooray! I can go back to Seton! So, I grabbed my guitar books, a lector workbook for the year, and the weekly song sheets off the website, and began tuning in every weekend. I went and found sheet music for songs I didn’t have in my books and I belted out my Alto parts to anything I had. Boy, did that feel great! So, a couple years later I find I’m still out here with the rest of you with a Facebook login and computer all powered up and ready to go.
“All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name.” (Psalm 86:9)
Scripture is littered with sentiments that echo why I come from across the country every week. I mean, does God really have boundaries? If He does, I’m not aware of it. He is Omni present. Whether I’m in a building surrounded by people, or sharing the stream surrounded by other virtually attached people, He’s here. With me. With you. The lack of live interaction is missed, mind you, but I try to concentrate more on Him, so I don’t notice so much. With the priests and deacons that are assigned to Elizabeth Seton, that’s not hard to do. Each one of them deliver homilies that strike a chord and makes it a very uplifting and wholesome experience to attend Mass. They make it easy to forget my four walls aren’t inside the church itself.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (John 10:27)
That’s it. We are all sheep to our Shepherd. The clarion call of our clergy reaches far and wide. I’m here to serve Him and you. When the call came out for writers, I responded. It was something I could do for all of you as we follow God and His Son Jesus, our Shepherd. In this way, I could help us all connect in a deeper way that can go beyond words. Omni is uncontainable. So, here I am with you again. Let us all connect virtually and in person and be there for each other. After all, that’s all He really wanted.
I do the same thing here in Wisconsin.. I try and watch the livestream every week.