Out of the Mouths of Babes!

P R A Y E R ! !! !!! !!!!

When a new priest comes to town, one expects that there will be changes. Father Bob decided that after each petition we would sing, "Jesus, Jesus, hear our prayer", rather than stating, "Lord hear our prayer".

A young toddler in the congregation has recently started to recognize the refrain and belts (and I mean, BELTS!) out in her most earnest voice, PRAYER!!!!!"

Some thought that it was just a passing thing, but yesterday at mass, my family all smiled as the petitions started and we realized that the little girl was off to our right. She did not disappoint us! She had been relatively quiet until her head lifted at the sound of "Jesus, Jesus.......". A heartfelt "Praaaayer!" came bursting forth from her little lungs and a satisfied smile went with it. She had participated!

I swear I saw our pastor smile in recognition, I might be wrong. Maybe I thought he did because he says a lot of the mass with the same passion that I hear from that little girl. I was disappointed a couple of weeks ago when I heard negative comments about the unique cherib solo. Yes, as a former teacher and full time mother, I understand that there has to be order in a large gathering. But this was not something the little girl was doing to disrupt. I hardly hear anything out of her during the rest of mass. To me, it has everything to do with spiritual earnestness! I am so very jealous! I wish that I could bellow out worship with that much bravido! Can you imagine if we all listened to each petition and punctuated each syllable of the refrain with the little girl's innocence?

Her mother did take her daughter to the cry room when she realized after the third petition that her spontaneous litany was going to continue. I understood from her point of view, she did not want to be responsible for disrupting the service. But, I could not help but wistfully watch them disappear into the cryroom. How many parishioners have we lost at times because their participation was deemed inappropriate? Yes, the stability of ninety-nine sheep are very important, they pay the bills. But we can learn a lot from the ornery actions of a lost little lamb can't we?

For a long, long time I know that I will hear a special emphasis at the end of "Jesus, Jesus, Hear Our PRAYER !!!!" and smile.