Surrounded by Witnesses

Peace Found at the Altar in a Time of Uncertainty

How my heart longs for and rejoices in the simple and the silent.

This morning I offered Mass in our humble home chapel, surrounded by the icons of the saints and the quiet warmth of the lampada’s light. In a season when my mother bears the weight of illness and I stand before real uncertainty about the future of my ministry, the silence of the chapel and the steady attentiveness required at the altar brought peace to the soul.

What is there to fear when one stands surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, and is nourished by Him who is the very Governor of Life and the Lord of Love? The anxieties that press in from every side lose their voice in the presence of such nearness. The heart remembers what it so easily forgets elsewhere.

The silence of obscurity can at times feel lonely, even unsettling, especially when the mind is left to wander and rehearse its fears. Yet moments like these in the chapel expose the lie beneath those thoughts. They gently undo the knots of worry and return the soul to truth.

For what is there to fear when one is held in the hands of the living God?