Making Connections
“Oh, Mary we crown thee with blossoms today.”
May Day was a big day for those of us who were raised Catholic. I recall that one stellar student from Saint Andrews was chosen to lead a procession, climb a ladder and place a crown on the statue of Mary outside of the church, while others watched and sang and prayed along. My friend Joyce and I would create our own altar at home with a small plastic statue of Mary that my mom kept on the kitchen windowsill. We gathered small spring flowers from the neighbor’s yard-grape hyacinth, emerging lily of the valley, and tired daffodils. We created our own May Day service, singing and processing around the yard and culminating in crowning our tiny Mary with a ring upon her head.
When Joyce’s family was building an addition to their home a large pile of dirt from the foundation was deposited across the road on the water side of their property. Joyce and I wondered what to create and we decided, a church. We molded steps up to the top of the dirt pile placing flowers on the edges of each one. We placed a small altar on top and even made our own communion hosts from Wonder Bread. We were reaching for a connection to the heavens.
There was no adult supervising our holy escapades. It is a wonder what our young hearts knew about religion and celebration and ritual, but these small and innocent celebrations connected us to something larger than ourselves and gave us a sense of hope that there was and is something powerful and grand that oversees the universe.
I imagine that is what faith has taught us-that years of going to church and religious education classes helped to create an inner structure bolstered by the importance of believing in something. As adults we either build on that structure or find it in other ways and places that speak to our souls. For me it has been so easy to make connections through those spring flowers and the beauty of the world around us. Each morning offers us an opportunity for wondrous connection. Especially when we take the time to look deeply and carefully at all of the beauty around us.
When I was young my very old and very holy grandmother lived with us. One day as she and I were looking out over the salt marsh, the shorebirds, and the swaying seagrass she said to me, “Thank God for your eyes, that can see all of this beauty.” That one simple sentence transformed my life. How powerful that was for me. In that moment she connected the earth to the great spirit of life. How valuable it is for us to share that with others especially our children and grandchildren. It reminds them that they are connected to the earth beneath their feet, the beauty of the world around them, and the hopefulness that there very well may be something wonderful, huge and loving standing by them throughout their lives.
