4/8/24 Easter has come and gone. For the first time in my living memory, I missed Good Friday services. All except morning prayer. We took our daughter to a medical facility to address her dental problems. This was the only day in the near future that they could take her. I really miss the Good Friday services especially the adoration of the cross and communion service. The stations as well. Not so much the reading of the Passion. Although when it is sung it is quite beautiful. I am Still struggling with what is happening at the parish and in the church. I have come to realize every day that you can fool some of the people all the time! Some people believe you can fool God as well. We never learn. Be that as it may, I had another insight while in the Adoration chapel which prompted me to write the following tale.

Consider a place in which there are two Adoration chapels. And everyone in that place gets to visit one of the chapels once in their lives. The chapels are identical, same size same decorations, same chairs, same kneelers, etc. Each chapel has one wall where there is a small platform attached to the wall, and a set of steps that leads up to that platform from the sides. It is also the case that on some random and somewhat infrequent times Jesus personally visits each chapel. No one knows when this will happen. In the first chapel, sometimes the door will open, and two angels come in. They ask everyone to kneel and bow their heads. They are followed by the Lord, who is dressed in a beautiful vestment resplendent in gold and jewels. Jesus makes his way to the wall and walks up the steps and steps on the platform with his back to the wall. Angel hands him a gold crown which has many jewels and inscribed thorns. An angel places a kneeler a respectable distance in front of the platform Jesus places the crown on, extends his arms against the wall and gazes across the silent room. The angel begins calling people forward one at a time to the kneeler and says bow your head and choose to say either “I love you Jesus”, or “Thank you Jesus”. The other angel is standing to the side with a sign that says: “No Photos”. Then the next person is called forward to repeat the process. After everyone has had a turn, the angel says bow your heads, and Jesus removes the crown and leaves the platform and leaves the room with the angels. No one knows when he will come again.

The second chapel similarly has people waiting for the allotted time sitting or kneeling and waiting. When the time expires, they are asked to leave, and the next group comes in. Both chapels work in the same way. In the second case, sometimes during the allotted time the door will open, and Jesus will walk in. He usually has a rake or hoe in his hand like one who had been working in the garden. His vestment is clean but still has a few twigs or leaves hanging on which he quickly brushes off. He also rubs his hands together to knock off any dirt or grit that may be on them. Jesus then walks to the nearest person and says: “Hi, I’m Jesus, what’s your name. Sally, Hi Sally, thanks for coming.”. Then moves on, “Hi, I’m Jesus what’s you name? john, Hi John thanks for coming.”. The sequence is repeated until he has visited everyone in the room. After that Jesus walks to the door, turns and says, “Thank you all for coming, I hope we will meet again soon.”. He then picks up his rake or hoe and leaves the room.

As you can see, each room has its own character. The dilemma the people in this place face is since they can only visit one of these rooms once in their lives which room should they place their name on the waiting list for? 

That’s it, what’s your answer??