Singing Moments Deeper Into the Desert

Last updated on: April 6, 2022 at 9:46 pm by Sherry Antonetti

Singing Moments Deeper Into the Desert 2022-04-06T21:46:40-04:00 Sherry Antonetti

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I don’t know if other people experience hearing music in their heads during work when there’s a sign of triumph, of understanding, of hope, but I do.

We’re doing quick writes in journals. When students don’t want to lift their pencils or put away their journals because they’re writing, I hear the music in my head, and I understand if only for a moment, why I teach. It is a silent joy because I can’t show it without disrupting the moment.

At mass, this past Sunday, I felt the odd rush of joy at communion despite not having everyone there, because –well, no because, I didn’t seek it. It showed up, and I knew this rush of belonging, of knowing in the mass as I have known in the past at other masses. That deep knowledge that bursts out of the heart and the bones, of knowing we belong here.

The rest of life is full of moments where we don’t feel we belong. We’re cut off from each other by sin, by anger, by hurts, by deeds done and not done, words said that get remembered, and silence that is burned into the memory. Everywhere, we see the divisions between rich and poor, young and old, healthy and not, masked and unmasked, married and not, from this country, from that place, from this culture, from that family. We are the Montagues and the Capulets, spitting at each other for hate’s sake, and wondering why we are not happy. Online and in real life, we tear people down who do not think, feel, look, sound, or dress the way we think they ought. We judge by how people write, talk, their careers, their degrees, their grades, their schools, their families, their zip codes, their phones, their hair, their everything until we find anything. We are a stubborn stiff necked people to a person, who believe we are justified in every stone we propose throwing or having thrown.

Yet here at the mass, at the marriage between Heaven and Earth, we all belong at the table and we are each of us, invited to dine, to feast on Christ, and to bring Christ to all we encounter. How could we not smile? How could we not know this reality -that all of heaven is with us at each mass, and every time we encounter the Eucharist, and that every encounter with another person, is an opportunity to bring Christ to them? We can forget in our broken nature, from all the stones we’ve felt thrown at us, and all the stones we’ve thrown, that we were never told we could merit Heaven, we were always only told, we were gifted Christ.

It’s did we or are we allowing that reality to take hold of the heart of our lives. If we do, all the rest of it falls away, all the rest of it is straw. We’re left with the joy that fills and reverberates off the walls of the Church as we process one by one up to say “Yes” to holding Christ, to tasting Him, to letting Him into our lives yes that intimately.

We have two weeks until Easter, yet every mass remains a feast.

So how do we fast when the bridegroom is here? Fast from snark. Fast from gossip. Fast from ugly stories. Fast from picking at your own emotional wounds. Fast from the last word. Fast from all that helps perpetuate division in your heart and the hearts of others. Make your life a desert where all sin dries up and feast on the still small silence the absence of sin creates, that allows for the hearing of God’s voice.

Happy Lent. Onward, deeper into the desert.

Answered Prayers

Love in the little things

Previous Post

March 29, 2022

We Are All Messier than We Admit

Next Post

April 16, 2022 The One Thing We Know...We are Not Ready

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Answered Prayers Blessed Mother Confirmation Devotion of the Sacred Heart Doctors of the Church Easter Family Humor family life Good Friday Growing up Healing Holy Spirit taps Lent Love in the little things Mary Undoer of Knots Not an Apologist Parenting Sacred Heart of Jesus Saint Therese of Lisieux Sin Small Success Saturday Teaching others and myself Uncategorized Waiting Writing Year of Saint Joseph

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz