In decades old Thanksgiving Day football tradition, the Detroit Lions kicked off at Ford Field last Thursday against the Minnesota Vikings. Days before I was there too at Ford Field, not watching the football’s spiral, but watching the spiral of incense carry prayers to Heaven. It was the Beatification Mass of Fr Solanus Casey.
On Saturday, November 25, 2017, 60,000 of us filled the stadium for the long awaited Beatification Mass of Detroit’s most beloved priest, Fr Solanus. A 2½ hour mass, passing quickly, with many tender, sacred moments, it’s hard to write a thought. After the ponchos were off, and one was inside from the pouring rain, you could sense the atmosphere was different. Approaching the opening toward the typically lined field, it’s a breathtaking look at an altar right on the 50 yard line that confirms for certain, this is different!
Preparing for the Mass, feeling already so close to God just being there, one begins like most all probably began that day, remembering those you carry close in prayer and especially those who knew and loved Fr Solanus. You pray for your family and loved ones, offer special intentions for those suffering, and enjoy the company of those simply taking in the beauty of the event. For me, among those promised prayers was one in particular for my newest friend Elizabeth.
Leading up to the Beatification Mass, my cousin and I vacationed for a few days in the Bahamas. Praying a novena leading up to Mass, I sensed God would bring about something special, something particular even in this highly secular vacation spot. He always does. And as always, He didn’t disappoint.
With the sun high in the sky and a tropical breeze stirring, we sit down to poolside lunch where the relaxed atmosphere encourages shared conversation about the wonderful food, island beauty, where one is from and so on. Enjoying this friendly chitchat and learning that my table companion is a doctor who worked and lived in Detroit, I tell him that we are headed back there in a few days for Fr Solanus’ Beatification Mass.
He stills and looks at me. It’s a hesitant and questioning look at first, then more pointedly and intent. Reaching down into his pool bag, he pulls from his wallet a Fr Solanus relic badge. Directing my smile toward his now bemused look, I reach for my bag, pull out my wallet and show him my own badge. His badge is old, just as mine, and after an inspection by my cousin, she looks at me with awe, saying “It’s Grandma’s”.
(Written previously of Grandma’s story of making relic badges include link somewhere)
We can’t believe the coincidence! Quickly sharing the story of how and why these badges match, it’s simply a wonderful time to enjoy. It’s the recognition of a shared faith and that Fr Solanus is with us, even in the Bahamas!
There is something more though. Sensing that he’s still visiting memories, memories he’s not sure he wants share, I turn in my seat to face him. It’s enough to encourage his story. He says that his wife’s father gave his badge to him. When he’d approached his wife’s father with the request to date her, her father had given him the badge with the admonishment that if he was going to date his daughter, he should carry it with him always. And so he had.
As his story unfolds, the bustle of the poolside and the noise of the crowd fall away and are replaced with a quiet reality. His eyes now have tears and I sense what is coming. He is alone at this lunch table, and his wife isn’t with him. She’d suffered so much from cancer, three times before her eventual death from it. His love for her was evident in the quick grief that surfaced. Her death was at the same hospital where they had worked, doctor and nurse, side by side for decades. It was the same hospital where Fr Solanus died.
My own tears accompany his and he shares regret that he’d not planned to attend the Mass himself. Placing my hand on his, it’s a poignant moment of communion, an intimacy recognized of God’s presence between us. Trusting and knowing this communion spans all distance and time, I ask if I may I have his wife’s name, if I may I take them both with me in my prayer to the Mass. And so, a grateful, trembling voice introduces me to Elizabeth, and several stories follow of the sweetness of their romance and marriage. How blessed am I to witness their love story that endures past the grave! My heart is full of thanksgiving for God’s gift of this meeting and His turning my vacation into pilgrimage.
Leaving the island sunshine for the cold, pouring rain of Detroit did little to dampen the spirit that now traveled with me. Among those 60,000 pilgrims, there in Row 19 Seat 8 as I offered my rosary before Mass, the Communion of Saints came alive in the second Joyful Mystery where Mary visits Elizabeth. I too have met Elizabeth, my new friend’s beloved wife. In this decade, the hustle and bustle fall away, just like when her husband spoke, and my soul experiences a joyful contentment and gentle peacefulness in the unexpected quiet. It’s Elizabeth, sharing the presence of her soul at rest with God.
It’s a beautiful, particular occasion of fullness and completeness in both body and spirit. There is a great complexity to the moment, but yet an even greater simplicity. To share the experience and sensation of a soul at rest with God, it must surely be a taste of Heaven. It’s also a reminder of why we are here in the first place… to celebrate! To celebrate just as Mary did, when she met Elizabeth and proclaimed the fulfillment of God’s promises in her Magnificat. So whether a humble priest, a beloved nurse, or a faithful pilgrim, we can rejoice because God looks on us with favor! He fulfills all the promises He’s made to us, so that one day too we may be at rest with Him, just like the now Blessed Fr Solanus and my new friend Elizabeth.