To Work for the Glory of Holy Church 

In the dream I was down on my hands and knees cleaning the floor of a beautiful church. It was built completely of black marble: floor, walls, ceiling, altar. Like all marble, it had a sheen to it, which gave the black marble a kind of majesty. In the wall near me there was a large rectangle cut out for a window, but it was totally open, the sunlight coming into the sanctuary, which was brightly lit with the natural light. 

I had the sense that Holy Mass had just ended. There were small groups of people standing around chatting, as if at a cocktail party. They were unaware of me, so they didn't move when I got near them, so I just cleaned around their feet 

I had that dream 30 years ago, when I first returned to the Catholic Church. I never gave it a lot of thought at the time, but I knew that it was a call to me to be a servant in and to the Church. 

The Scripture in John 13 of Jesus washing the feet of His Apostles comes to mind: 

He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?”  Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand.”  Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in Me.”  Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”  Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not all of you.” (vs. 6-10) 

In the Sacrament of Baptism we are bathed of all sin. Baptism is a means to receive the saving grace that Jesus died to give us, through sacramental water and the Holy Spirit. "He who is bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet." 

In Jesus' day the common people used to walk everywhere, even from town to town, many miles, so, with the open sandals that they wore, their feet got dirty and needed washing, even if they had already bathed that day. 

Likewise, even though we have been baptized, once we have reached an age in which we can make informed moral choices throughout our days, even though we have been bathed in the waters of Baptism, we need to have our spiritual feet washed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

Baptism is an essential means of salvation, while the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a path to sanctification.  In an internet article on the Catholic News Agency website entitled Pope Francis: 'Sacramental Confession is the Way of Sanctification, published March 29, 2019, we read that the Holy Father spoke to a group of seminarians and priests and said that the sacrament of penance is "the way of sanctification" in which miraculous conversions occur. 

Only through sanctification can we enter into heaven immediately after our death. If we are not sanctified at the moment of our death, though we die in a state of grace, we must suffer some time in purgatory, being purged of the effects of our sins. 

In the dream I was cleaning the floor of the Church, the hard work of my cleaning representing my working out of my own salvation through prayer, true contrition for my sins, sincere confession, and my daily efforts to live in the will of God, through the grace of Christ.

 

"... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." 

(Philippians 2:12-13)

 

We are living stones of the Church built by Christ, and so the condition of our souls affects the condition of the whole Church. 

Come to Him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious;  and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

For it stands in scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in Him will not be put to shame.”

(I Peter 2:4-6)

 

As we allow our Lord to wash our souls in the Sacrament of Penance, with fervent desire for conversion and sanctification, we have more and more part in Him.

 

As we are moved by the Holy Spirit on the path of sanctification, the light of Christ shines more and more in and through our hearts and souls.

 

Cami little handmaid   January 23, 2021