My Beloved Bridges

I can now say that I am on the mend from the great gift that for the last three years I have called "Building Bridges." Every year at around this time I start to wonder "Is it worth it to do this again?" And for the past two years, the response is always the same: "How could I not do this?" This year, the response is a little different, "Don't worry. I'm going to lead you where you need to go when you are ready."

This year, more than ever, I have prayed about Building Bridges and where I am supposed to go in my ministry, and God has been so good with answering my prayers. So, my response is just to trust him. He is the planner. He is the speaker. He is the musician.

I spent time in prayer with one of my favorite priests on Friday, about 6 hours before Building Bridges III was to begin. We prayed for God's hand to be present throughout the weekend. It was. We prayed for peace. It came. What we came to was that God would give me some surprises, and he did. I had my own vision of what would happen, and sure enough, God had an even better one. Beyond the fun, games, music and messages that He had for the youth, He had so many messages for me throughout the weekend, and I am happy to share them with you here.

1.) Other people's gifts are valuable, and they are willing to share them with you. I have often fallen into the trap of trying to doing everything by myself. I've valued that ability to say "I can do it," claiming that it was a gift of independence that drove my success. But God was right there to tell me when to surrender that pride to others who were so nice and so willing to help. When my primary musician had to back out because of another commitment, God gave me the gift of three musicians. When I thought I would hook up an audio cord to a video input, he sent people to the rescue who fortunately know which cord goes where. When I was worried about setup, he gave me the gift of organized women who could set up meals for me. When I was so busy and stressed out that I didn't have time to cook for myself, he sent me friends who picked up meals for me. In these moments, I started to see other people's gifts.

2. God's vision is different from mine....Mine may be good, but his is always better. When I didn't reach my goal of 200 registrations, he said, "Don't sweat it. I don't want to reach 200 people. I want to reach 500. It just won't look like what you wanted it to." I don't know why I even sweat this one anymore. I am starting to see that it is God alone who does any good work. I'm privileged because he chooses to use me a tool. He doesn't need me, but he wants me. I am just a small part of a bigger plan that he has, and no matter how good what I do may be, it's always infinitely better when he is invited into it. He does so much, and he does it effortlessly not because he is powerful but because he is loving. This thought really resonated with me when Fr. Peter Steele was telling his vocation story and said, "Thank you, God. Thank you for saving me from the lame life I had planned for myself." Well said, Fr. Peter. The Father's plan is so much more exciting than anything we can even conceive!

3. Never underestimate the power of a woman who is in love. It was such a blessing to have sisters from two orders to join us for Building Bridges this year. My original vision was to make this weekend a HUGE event where kids could hear from sisters and priests from all over the diocese, but as the weeks of planning went by, people had to decline my invitation. Of course I was disappointed, and of course I felt a bit of spiritual attack. But when I was left with two sisters, a priest and a seminarian, I knew I had to surrender to whatever it was that God wanted. Sr. Paschalina Marie from Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church and Sr. Benedicta from the Daughters of St. Paul's messages of God's love and desire to gaze upon his beloved children were powerful. It was exactly what so many of us needed to hear at the end of a busy weekend. It was exactly what the Father wanted us to hear. I have had children time after time ask me why women can't be priests, and I always answer them with a combination of "Jesus picked men" and "Women have unique gifts that they can use in other areas of the Church." But now I can look at these beautiful brides of Christ and say "Because God has another plan for his daughters."

4. Gratitude and gentleness are two powerful virtues When our speakers gave their talks, we followed up with question and answer sessions. I asked one of our seminarians, Edgar Quiroga, how we can grow in holiness so that we can become saints who live in heaven with God. His response was simple but meaningful: Every morning, wake up and pray: "Thank you for this day. What do you want me to do? God takes nothing from you. He gives all." I think that sometimes we get into this belief that we have to fast for days or we have to give everything we have to the poor. Maybe some of us are called to do that at some times in our lives, but we are ALL called to be grateful and ask God what he wants from us.

5. God the Father gives us all good gifts. He has especially blessed me with special relationships. In the days leading up to this event, I said time after time that everyone has been so nice with offering their support. So many people were generous with their time, energy and encouragement. So many people sent me messages saying they were praying for me and for the success of this event. As a single woman, it's easy to fall into a pit of loneliness, but God gave me the gift of beautiful friendships. I expressed this to someone this weekend, and his response was: "This is the Church as it is supposed to be." When we are surrounded by a culture obsessed with finance, politics and structure, it was refreshing to hear that. The fact that we can give and encourage and love one another without worrying about what we will get in return was a gift, and it's an even greater gift to know that God the Father who gave us that gift also gives us himself to be the head of everything we do.

I'm left with just one thing: It's all about Him. It's all about God and how much he loves us. When I was praying with my priest, I heard myself asking Jesus to walk with me during this event. Somewhere in that prayer, I realized that I was asking the wrong thing. I changed my prayer to something that was even better. I asked Jesus to let me walk with him. He is the leader. I am the follower. And in that moment, the Savior of the world took me by the hand and led me for the next 36 hours. It was lovely.

So with that, Building Bridges is a wrap. Will I see you next year? Maybe. We'll see what God wants.