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Connections&
October 13th, 2002- 28th Sunday of the Year
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son: 'Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fatted cattle are killed, and every thing is ready; come to the feast... Go out into the main roads and invite whomever you find... '
The king saw a man not dressed in a wedding garment. "My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?" But the man was reduced to silence.
Matthew 22: 1-14
LAURA'S FIRST COMMUNION DRESS
Laura was severely handicapped from birth and struggled with many physical problems and mental disabilities. The doctors said she might live to be 3. When she was 8, her parents knew they were on borrowed time.
Her parents never dreamed she could make her First Communion. They mistakenly thought that their daughter's disabilities somehow excluded her from the Eucharist; but when they asked the parish religious education director about Laura possibly receiving, she put them immediately at ease when she said simply, "If not Laura, then who?"
During the preparation period, Laura's mom decided to make her white dress. She chose a pattern with a large square collar and long sleeves that would hide the straps that held her to her wheelchair and cover the bulky arm splints. The sewing machine whirred through those quiet afternoons as the soft white fabric and lace took shape. Laura's mom remembers:
"The bedroom became a sacred space, the sewing of the dress a sacramental creation. It was a time of inner transformation and conversion, of bittersweet imaginings and mourning. Laura's spiritual journey became entwined with mine as stitches sewn along seams began to close old wounds and piece together a faith that had become lost to me in the years following her birth."
Laura's First Communion day was the most blessed and celebrated day in her life.
Ten months later, Laura died. She was buried in the beautiful dress her mother had made. Her mother writes of that day:
"The stillness of her hands folded together in prayer seemed strangely comforting. I was unprepared for the joy."
CONNECTION: Our lives are pieces of fabric that we struggle to piece together to make a garment fitting to wear at God's wedding banquet. Like Laura's First Communion dress, our wedding garment is fitted from our hurts, fears, and pain; it is adorned with our joys, triumphs and the constant rediscovery of how loved we are by God. God's invitation to every one of us to come to his banquet should give us a sense of direction and meaning to our days as we make our way to God's wedding feast. ¦
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