It Is What It Is: Religion

This past weekend, my nephew and godson made his First Holy Communion.

It was especially poignant for me since this celebration was held in the church of my childhood. The church where I have shared many family celebrations.

It is the church of my youth and young adulthood. It's the church where I was married and the church that has celebrated the funeral Masses of two of my grandparents.

And although it is the same church, it is much different. A few years ago, they underwent a major expansion and remodel. The church went from a traditional altar in the front of with the pews lined up on either side with a long aisle to a church in-the-round configuration with pews surrounding the altar on three sides.

I love that they maintained the original design integrity. This church had some of the most beautiful stained glass windows. Even though they bumped out one side of the church completely, they kept the original windows and reinstalled them with the new design.

I'd forgotten just how beautiful they were. This is the old Altar area (and the background for all of my wedding photos in the church.) It is now considered the back of the church and this area is reserved for the handicapped accessible area.

The wall behind the altar used to be completely tiled. A part of the design of the wall was a prayer that I would recite every time I attended Mass and I still say that very prayer every day of my life. The wall looks a little bare to me now, though.

This is the current Altar. That is the same Crucifix that hung above the old Altar (in front of my tiled prayer.)

The priests of course where new to me as well. I have to say, I've attended a great many First Communion services in my day, and this really was one of the best homilies I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. This Pastor really made the significance of the event for these children come alive and he made it accessible to them. It was thoroughly enjoyable.