my little mystic

I was in Portland this weekend, or more accurately the southern suburbs, for my Godson's first communion. I missed his big brother's big day two years ago, as I was in the novitiate in New Jersey, so I was really glad I was able to drive down this weekend!

On Saturday morning, my friend/his mom asked me if I'd help him make his banner. She said that the first communion teacher at the Parish had encouraged them to have the kids come up with what would be on the banner. My friend is a great mom and took this to heart. She'd made a blank banner with felt and had a variety of colors of adhesive backed felt. All we needed to do was ask Alex what he wanted his banner to say.

I figured I'd need to give him some suggestions or pointers, but when I asked him ... "Alex, what do you want to say on your banner?" he answered without missing a beat ... "Fly to your love. With a picture of an airplane." He seemed pretty sure that this was the message he wanted, and his teacher said they should say whatever they wanted, so we went for it.

Alex drew the airplane and cut out the pattern on silver felt. He picked red for his name and purple for the other letters. His mom and I drew letters on the felt with stencils and helped him cut it out. Alex and I assembled his masterpiece. And masterpiece it was ...

It says so much and comes from the heart. Really, if you think about it, it's almost mystical. And totally captures the meaning of the moment, first communion, when one first receives the body and blood of Christ and remembers that other holy moment, when he loved us so much he died on the cross. Ok, granted, this is all probably above my little Alex's head. But he is such a loving person. And he's oddly connected to the whole God thing.

When I was leaving for the novitiate almost three years ago, Alex and his mom went out to lunch with me on my last day in Portland. Alex would have just turned 5. As he was saying goodbye, he said "Susan, are you going to work for God?" This was one of the better explanations I'd heard for leaving your job as a glorified bureaucrat to become a nun, so I said, "Yes Alex, I'm going to work for God." He thought about it for a minute. "But can't you work for God here? Why do you have to go away?". Again, a good question. "Well, I have to go to school to learn how I can best work for God," I said. "Ok," he said. Satisfied.

He's a good kid. And his banner was by far the most original (and kid created). The others were very nice, with crosses and lambs and hearts and sayings like "Jesus loves Sarah" and "Joey loves God." All wonderful messages and perfect for the day.

My personal favorite though, was by far "fly to your love". I especially love the metallic airplane!