You would think a congregation ought to be inside the church at the time scheduled for their religious gathering, right? Well, more than half the number of congregants present at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church on this day were standing in front of the tall building that was the church. They all seemed to be waiting for something or looking out for someone.
It was three weeks to Christmas and according to the Roman Catholic calendar, it was the season of advent; a time marked by expectancy and preparation for the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
Reverend Father Donatus Tancredi was the parish priest of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. He had two other priests assisting him in managing the affairs of the church and discharging their ordained duties.
If there was anything Fr. Don was known for, it was his penchant for punctuality. As expected of one with such respect for keeping time, he abhorred lateness.
Fr. Don as he should, made a point of preparing the homily, the spiritual discourse for each mass to be celebrated before the day came. As such, he already had a doctrine prepared for this occasion too. He intended to speak on marriage; how a couple should live in love with God.
Fr. Don was to celebrate the mass that would unite Andrew and Grace in holy matrimony. It had been scheduled for 9am but thirty minutes later, the bride was still absent at her own wedding.
Feathers were getting ruffled already. For starters, Father Don. had been somewhere between angry and disappointed when on his arrival two minutes to the scheduled time, he had met the bride's absence.
Usually, when either of the couple was running late, Fr. Don would after waiting a few minutes, begin the mass in their absence. The absentee on arriving late would join in at whatever part of the celebration he or she met.
Oddly today, Fr. Don was sitting patiently in his high-backed chair waiting on the bride's appearance. He had been told earlier by Andrew the groom, after his first few minutes of waiting, why the bride was running late. So he had lengthened the leash on his impatience in sympathy.
He could have opted to return to his office and wait to be notified of the bride's arrival but something held his attention and had him sitting straight-backed in his chair.
Everyone seemed busy!
Andrew, the groom kept going in and out of the church with his cellphone to his ear half the time. He must be trying to ascertain what was responsible for the delay.
Grace, the bride would be attending her wedding from the hospital where she had been admitted few days ago. Bridal jitters? Maybe but whatever it was had been enough to have her confined to a sick bed and off her feet. The doctor had cleared her this morning for the occasion but not in time for her to get back home. So her bridesmaids who were currently absent themselves had taken all she needed for the preparation to her there from whence they would all come to church. Delay had been expected but not at this level. She was nearly an hour late!
The members of the congregation who had sat waiting were now mostly standing in front of the church; waiting as well. Some were on their phones while others stood in groups discussing.They would look up expectantly each time a car pulled up in the driveway. They were watching out for the bride's coming!
The bride arrived an hour and five minutes late and after giving her apologies, the wedding mass began but something had changed.
Fr. Don's homily had.
It was no longer centred on how couples should live in love with God although he said a few words on the subject.
It was rather about advent and how they all had to prepare in anticipation for the birth and coming of Jesus. They were to keep the light burning in them, shining through for others to see and remember to be the salt of the earth. He explained how their earlier actions while expecting the bride were similar to the purpose of advent and how it had prompted his change of sermon.
Fr. Don never did get an explanation from the bride as to what had had been responsible for her lateness but he did get something else; a silver lining from the bride's late cloud.
THE END
Here is wishing Steemians a merry Christmas in advance.
All images were obtained from source
