FICTION
To Avoid an Awkward Family Breakfast, I Escape to Mass for the First Time at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, Three Oaks, Michigan
The Father — the only color in a sea of suburban white. His accent is thick, but his joy and love are clear as day.
Missing the holy water at the entrance announces me as a stranger, but I certainly don’t feel like an intruder.
My eyes track to the red trickling from the life-size Christ above the altar, where the spear separated blood from water.
Idols are everywhere. Not sure if that is the right word for them, but statues and pictures decorate the whole chapel. There are so many, I feel like a kid in a toy shop, looking everywhere, trying my best to find one that I like the most.
Best of all is the calm that soon settles over me. I stand, sit, kneel, stand, sit, kneel, as the others do, and don’t feel self-conscious when I miss a beat. There is no judgment here.
Among the ceremonies and memorized traditions, one man’s voice stands out from the rest. When he asks God to hear his prayers, he is not just reciting; he is pleading. He is pleading like he knows something we don’t. Pleading like maybe he will meet the Lord sooner than the rest of us. You can hear it in his voice, in his clenched eyes, in his white grip upon the pew in front of him.
His passion is touching, and I am jealous.
When communion begins, I desperately want to go forth, receive the Father’s blessing, but I am an outsider, and do not know the formalities, so I stay in my seat, and gaze up at my Lord, with his mother to the left, and Peter (or is it Paul?) on his right.
I gaze, and I pray. Just thankful to be here.
As I leave, I think about what the Father said — the special ingredient to combat the darkness of this world is love.
I think about that, and smile.
Maybe I can make it back in time for bacon.
Jacob W. Surface is a preacher, teacher and writer. He is the faculty advisor of Franklin Community High School’s literary magazine, Bear Attack. His poetry and fiction have appeared in Etchings Magazine, The Northwest Indiana Literary Journal, ClayJar Review and on the Radio FreeWrite podcast. His first book of poetry and short fiction, Something Dark and Others is now available on all major bookseller sites. He lives in the Hoosier state with his wife, daughter, and two cats.
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Photo by F Matheu, some rights reserved. Modified by Veronica McDonald.
Heart of Flesh Literary Journal 
I was there in that church with the speaker. Wonderful story!
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