Friend It’s funny how friendships start but certainly not surprising that they last.
It’s maybe ten years or so that several of us were going to the 6:30 mass at St. Rose of Lima in Freehold. As in most churches, everyone kind of has their “assigned seats,” which means that by choice everyone usually sits in the same place every day.
You nod to each other, you smile, you attend mass, and you go home. But sometimes, maybe you’ve dropped a booklet, and someone picks it up for you with a smile and a word or two. Or you comment as you leave mass on someone’s very attractive jacket or snow-covered boots on a wintry day. Or at the Sign of Peace during mass, you say hello along with the routine nod.
The little things might get bigger, for instance, you offer a walker a ride home on a rainy day, or on a nice day, you linger for a few minutes just to pass the time of day.
Eventually, you get to know each other’s names, and those who have known each other from other areas or earlier times came to learn more about “the lady in the second row on the Blessed Mother’s side,” or “the man in the front row who always smiles at everyone at the sign of peace.”
Then one day, you get a quiet lady, a lady who is there every day, is observant and likes the fact people are getting to meet other people. She’s an organizer as well, and feels good when other people are feeling good. Mary is soft-spoken and has a great smile. But she’s also a worker, a doer, and determined. So when she has a good idea, she shares it.
That led to the day when Mary went around to suggest to everyone that they go to breakfast together, to get to know each other more. Everyone smiled, they set a date and all agreed the Perkins on the highway was close enough and had room to allow everyone to sit around one table. She talked to the restaurant manager as well, ensuring we could be on the quiet side of the restaurant at a long table, and she invited whichever priest was saying mass that day to join us. Most did.
That first breakfast called for some photo taking, many breakfasts after that and a closer friendship among people who would never have known to each other it not been for their going to mass every morning.
Over the next ten years, people moved, people died, people were very sick, or had personal problems. And this little informal group prayed especially for them. The group, men and women, liked going to mass even better, often stopping for a few words before heading home. Breakfasts continued regularly, until there was no longer a 6:30 mass and many of the group went to other churches or moved out of state.
That did not deter Mary, who thrives on the friendship she shares with everyone. So while the group got smaller, they still met, some in the same restaurant, sometimes in another restaurant. Always there were the photographs to show that no matter where they were, this group of friends remembered all those who made so many of their mornings brighter, cheerier and friendlier.
Today, those meetings continue. Sometimes they are in Monmouth County, sometimes they are further north, or west, so everyone would not have to travel too far. Mary sends out her messages setting a time, date and place, even offering rides for those who are unable to make the trip.
The friendship that started at daily mass has grown bigger, better, and those who make the occasional breakfasts, or lunches, as the case may be, still want to hear the latest good news, or things to pray for, for those who can’t make the get together.
And still, there are the photographs each time they meet, lots of laughter, lots of love, lots of conversation. Lots of happiness.
And it all started when a lady named Mary wanted to ensure everyone could share her own happiness at the start of a new day.
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