[March for Life: 1-26-17]

After driving a continuous 24-hour trek across America, the almost 300 students from Benedictine College’s Ravens Respect Life group were desperately longing for a shower. Having made good time on their trip, the students arrived to Holy Trinity Parish hours ahead of schedule and during heavy construction.

Holy Trinity Parish was undergoing renovation of stained glass windows and the students were greeted before and during Mass with the sound of drills, saws, hammering, and other loud noises. At the start of Mass, Fr. Simon Baker, OSB mentioned that he would not give a homily due to the loud noises of the construction surrounding us and that we might not hear parts of the liturgy. We Ravens know that a homily from Fr. Simon is not one to miss! So, as you could say it was just a normal pre-Mass experience. Mass was going good so far, right?

Well, actually...yes.

While I was waiting for Mass to start, I had a challenging thought. Why am I so preoccupied with the construction? Why was I so bothered by the noises of construction all around me? Construction is not unusual. The Catholic Church is always under construction. Or at least it should be. The pro-life movement, the very reason why we found ourselves in our nation's capital, is under construction.

God calls us to be under construction—at all times and everywhere, even during Mass. In fact, Mass is where we should be the most focused on construction. It is in Mass that we should offer up our hearts up to God, so He can bend us, tear down our walls, and mold us into a new "buildings." We are called to be dwelling places of the Lord Himself...... we are called to be churches, living tabernacles. But we have to give Him permission to start building.

So many times, I find myself resisting the construction of the Lord. I refuse to let myself be changed. I am afraid of confession. I am afraid of trusting the Lord. This rather loud message came to me while in that tightly packed church under construction, that sometimes it is okay to be a mess. It is okay to feel broken. It is okay to be in unfinished because God is working. God does all things for good. I just have to let Him work. I realized that day that my heart is under construction. My faith is under construction. My soul is under construction. And all is well.