The Grace of the Grey

Helen Syski gains hope from the grey-haired congregation at her church.

Attending a Holy Day Mass with my children, we were predictably one of two young families. Everyone else consisted of a few grey heads sprinkled throughout the church.

This scene is much lamented by Church leaders and Catholic apologists. They are titillated when they see “young people” attending, well, anything.

But that was not what I saw as I sat there praying.

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I saw God’s providence. I saw God’s gift to His Church. I saw God’s answer to these crises in our world.

Rise up, souls that have persevered! God has called you here, to these scattered pews. Are you weary? Wondering if you should still come? Depressed at the missing generations?

Do you feel forgotten? Unimportant? Even unwanted in all this hype over “young people” and the lament over the “greying congregation”?

You are seen. You are called. You are essential. You are God’s plan for His Church. God always provides exactly what is needed for His Church at every point in history, and YOU ARE IT.

The enemy wants to convince you that you are powerless. That your age makes you unsuitable for a springtime Church. Satan wants you to despair, to gripe and grumble about the golden years long past.

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God does not see you this way. It is His grace that has brought your soul through the upheavals of life, and it is He who is bringing your soul safely to the port of heaven.

Believe. Believe that God has exactly what He needs in you. Believe you are a part of His plan. Your faithfulness will bring the graces needed by all these “young people,” by all the priests and His Church. Only accept your daily moments and experiences as exactly what you must live hand in hand with God to continue His work of salvation on earth. He is counting on you.

Click to tweet:
You are God’s plan for His Church. God always provides exactly what is needed for His Church at every point in history, and YOU ARE IT. #CatholicMom

The torch of faith will be passed. Its fire is the Holy Spirit, Who needs only dry-timber souls to take over the earth. And in such arid land, dry souls are abundant!

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