I love seeing children at Mass because their parents are a great witness of faith to me. Crying babies, talking toddlers, and bored teens remind me of the difficult days when it was really hard to get my family dressed and out the door for Mass, then to keep them quiet for an hour. Sometimes I told the Lord, “I came to Mass today because you asked me to, but with 3 young children to watch, I’m not sure what went on. Please don’t look at all my distractions, but on the fact that I have come to keep your Sabbath holy for love of you, as you asked. Thank you!”

When I was a young girl, my favorite part of mass was reading the Scriptures in the missalette. As soon as the priest started his sermon, I’d open the missalette and begin reading where I’d left off the week before. I read exciting stories about Egyptians, funny stories about the very short Zacchaeus, wonderful stories about miracles and healing, and moving stories about Jesus’ compassion or anger because of sin.

God is still looking for men, women, and children to be His faithful few. At St. Francis of Assisi, I look around and find many of them. Some are old, some very young, some sick, others strong. Some are simply trying to raise their families in the faith. They are often like Gideon asking, “Who am I?”