Christ at a Coffee Shop

The longtime leader of our School of Community has just moved home to Italy; our new leader had a business meeting and couldn't make it. Our guitarist is moving to Alabama with his family in a few weeks, and he had to go to the dentist. Another regular had an unexpected work commitment. The parish where we've been meeting the past few months was not available.

And so last night three of us, all middle-aged adults, met in a local coffee shop to pray and to talk about how we found Christ this week in our encounters with others. We sat on the comfy sofas and chairs, and we cleared away someone's old coffee cups and napkins. I was asked to be the leader. I forgot what prayers we usually say at the start and we felt funny singing in a crowded coffee shop. So we huddled over my Book of Hours and said Monday evening prayer: "O Lord, come to our aid. O Lord, make haste to help us."

I don't know if we did School of Community correctly. We read from a reflection from Father Carron and we did our best to talk about how we have and haven't been encountering Christ. We talked about the distance between our faith and the apostles, and we spoke about the early Church martyrs. We said a brief prayer at the end and headed back out into our separate lives - me to grading papers, another back to the lab and a third to the gym for a workout.

We have nothing in common but Christ. One man is a painter by vocation, I am a new high school teacher and the other man is a new PhD. and looking for job. Our politics differ, as do most of our interests.

And yet Christ calls us to gather together. And so we do. "For wherever two or more are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).