I found this to be an interesting experience.
Thanks to our church's youth ministry, I had a wonderful core group of friends (about 17, though the number grew over time) back when I was in high school. For several of us, our relationships started even before then, as we lived near each other and attended the same Catholic grammar school.
Where the ministry left off, we picked up, pretty much living in each other's back pockets.
We had fun, we dated each other, and we survived much of the typical teen drama. We even attended Mass together as a group (though we often got in trouble for laughing too much).
As we got older, we married, moved away, and lost touch.
This past Monday, we all met again at the funeral for one of the guys in our group (he was only 42). After years and years of not attending Mass, I found myself back in my place, surrounded by my friends, bowing my head, whispering the appropriate prayers, praying to God.
It was like I had been sent back in time. I was surprised at my willingness to fall back into old habits (har har...Catholic...habits), obviously wanting the comfort they provided, but more so wanting to honor my friend whose faith was a hundred times stronger than mine. All the resistance towards the religion of my childhood seemed to disappear.
Anywho, it was an exhausting experience, but not an entirely bad one. It was interesting being sad, keyed up, and comfortable all at the same time.
The happy ending that we think our friend would have loved: Now we're all stalking each other (and our former youth minister!) on Facebook.
Thanks to our church's youth ministry, I had a wonderful core group of friends (about 17, though the number grew over time) back when I was in high school. For several of us, our relationships started even before then, as we lived near each other and attended the same Catholic grammar school.
Where the ministry left off, we picked up, pretty much living in each other's back pockets.
We had fun, we dated each other, and we survived much of the typical teen drama. We even attended Mass together as a group (though we often got in trouble for laughing too much).As we got older, we married, moved away, and lost touch.
This past Monday, we all met again at the funeral for one of the guys in our group (he was only 42). After years and years of not attending Mass, I found myself back in my place, surrounded by my friends, bowing my head, whispering the appropriate prayers, praying to God.
It was like I had been sent back in time. I was surprised at my willingness to fall back into old habits (har har...Catholic...habits
), obviously wanting the comfort they provided, but more so wanting to honor my friend whose faith was a hundred times stronger than mine. All the resistance towards the religion of my childhood seemed to disappear.Anywho, it was an exhausting experience, but not an entirely bad one. It was interesting being sad, keyed up, and comfortable all at the same time.
The happy ending that we think our friend would have loved: Now we're all stalking each other (and our former youth minister!) on Facebook.