The hated

This past Sunday morning was filled with sun, warmth for a change and good feelings. We were coming off of my boyfriends birthday , a wonderful night out with his family . We drove to St. Paul's church in Burlington, not our home parish but a good one at that. The readings referred to service, to evangelizing no matter what. The homily was beautiful, the priest told us how we need to pray for our brothers and sisters in the middle east. He informed us of some accounts that have happened in the past few months, men coming into a parish and opening fire on the priest and congregation ,simple bc they are Catholic ,killing many. He told us how hard these people are fighting for their faith, the same faith we share, he asked us to pray for them as well as do something if we are able. Then it was time for the consecration, the spirits of the faithful were high and we were all feeling very thankful for our lives here in America. The Communion hymn began to play, "Be not afraid " , then things changed. A man walked into the church, he made a direct line for the priest, marching up the altar and yelling at Father. Father kept his composure, as well as his senses and held Jesus in the Eucharist tightly to him. He did not stop Mass, the man yelled and screamed at the congregation how he hated all of us with a few choices words added in, then stormed out of the church. Father came down from the altar and we all stood in line, a little shell shocked , and went to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. Thankfully the man did not return with any more hateful words or worse. But the whole experience left me shaking. Here we are not even 30 minutes after listening to Father tell us about our brothers and sisters who are being hated, attacked even killed an ocean away then suddenly we are feeling the hate right here in our sleepy little church on a side street in Burlington NJ. Our situation is nothing like what is happening in the middle east but it is startling, it is the kind of situation that calls us to live our faith even more and to learn our faith even more. My plea to all of you who read this is to please, hug your loved ones a little closer tonight, reach into that drawer and bring out those rosary's, clean off the dust and start to pray. Pray not only for our brothers and sisters around the world but for us right here at home. The priest who put their lives on the line to preach the truth and the people who live it everyday.