Welcome Home

Welcome Home

I walk alone into the church on a sun soaked, summer afternoon, where the light streams through glass windows, these, the buildings eyes, that concentrate upon the soul, discovering the beauty, the potential, gazing upon grace.

I sit in the exhilarating silence of God’s abiding presence, a true joy to my senses, where I can abandon all my pretences, let go of all stubborn defences.

Yet I am not alone, rather surrounded by the shrouded silhouettes of people past, who no longer tread the green or dusty earth.

Those whose lives once caressed the canvas of this world’s fabric, where they created weaving shapes, streaming from youthful wonderings towards adult fulfilling’s, unique patterns, impressions upon God’s creation.

A life’s vocation to embrace time, that marches relentlessly through changing seasons, each footprint ruffles the envelope of the ages, moving onwards without blinking or stopping.

They in their turn now come to an ending of journeying, leaving the grieving, who discover in their loss, the pearl of great price, life’s invaluable worth.

Too quick, this pilgrimage, begun from the vulnerability of birth.

Eternal, the echo, the heartbeat, the pulse of hopeful meaning and fruitful searching.

Not an ending, but a reaching of the summit, a stretching out of grateful hands, hearing a whisper of faith filled words of love: “Welcome Home!”

Fr Patrick Brennan 2023 ©

When I pray in church, I enter alone, but soon in the presence of Jesus abiding forever, I realise that the communion of the saints remains and that the eternal echo and memory of people past comes to my consciousness, reminding me that I am never fully alone. Life is a pilgrimage, one where we move towards love that welcomes us home.