On the Road

Written by: Denise Serafini on Sunday, May 28, 2017

 

The event at St. George Church on May 22 in St. George, Utah was a true combination of preliminary missteps and issues that resulted in the greatest of blessings. We thought we had plenty of lead time to arrive at this venue, however little did I know that there is a 1-hour time difference from where we were staying to St. George. Regardless of the fact that we have a GPS device, we got totally lost and ended up calling the knights to come find us so we could get to the church. We had only 25 minutes to get everything in and ready for our event, no small feat, since it usually takes a full 90 minutes to get everything positioned. What was amazing is that we arrived to be treated so graciously regardless of what must have been mounting tension I’m sure all were feeling to organize and get things off on time. Everyone just put all their energies to helping us set up. Unbelievably everything fell right into place and there was no impact to the schedule. Was that our doing? Not a chance! That was the Holy Spirit working with St. Joseph to intervene at a critical moment to assure a positive experience for all. I’d be willing to bet that St. George was also on hand to “slay the dragon” that might have cast a negative tone on this event. Everything fell into place far too smoothly for any of us to believe that it was something we could have accomplished without divine help.

 

One of the things we have never taken the opportunity to mention are the wives of the members of the third and fourth degree knights. What we saw here, as well as at many of our events, were supporting spouses jumping in to help. Jean noted one in particular that had a condition that caused her feet to swell. She never gave that a second thought and simply joined in with the rest of us as an extra set of hands. These women are exemplary in that they are probably the ones to help assure that their husbands can have all of their regalia aligned and arrive on time for events. They come along and engage in the event from the pews and then pitch in again at the conclusion of event to help pack up. They always have warm hugs and the kindest of words to send us on our way. We can’t thank them enough.

Father Adrian presided over the event. When I first greeted him I conveyed a message to him from Father Andrew in Salt Lake City. You could see from his broad smile that he was pleased to hear from someone that was obviously a good friend with whom he rarely has the opportunity to touch base.

This was an exceptionally well attended event with lots of families. Jean was quick to pick up on one family that included a mother, aged 100 years and her daughters, one of which was 75. People often share their story with Jean as she is handing them holy cards at the start of the veneration line. Jean stepped forward to escort this special family through the line taking time to provide added explanations for each relic as they traced through the path to Calvary one more time. Once they completed the process that woman thanked Jean and said, “I would never have believed that I could have an opportunity like this in all my life” and obviously she’s been blessed with a long one. This woman seemed healthy enough to continue to be an example for the faith and a blessing to many for years to come.

There were blessings everywhere at this event. The presentation we do is a sort of once in a lifetime opportunity. We present relics that the faithful might never get to see, but more importantly we provide a context for approaching those relics that allows them to commemorate the events of Calvary in the presence of those relics. However, there are blessings that seem to emerge from every facet of these events that are in the personal experiences and manifestation of Christ’s love in the Holy Spirit. Those blessings are significant elements in the encounter with His Passion as well as in the interactions of the faithful. This event was a demonstration of the overall experience that the Holy Spirit makes available for each person. Supporting supplications from St. Joseph and St. George were probably responsible for adding to the enhanced experience. The parting comments from the 100-year old woman were a reflection of what we were all feeling. May each of us be blessed to appreciate the blessings that come our way regardless of how old we are.