By Carridder “Rita” Jones
After our children finished school and fell in love with long distance, my husband and I decided to move from Jeffersonville, Ind., to a condominium in Louisville. However, we did not want to give up our membership at Sacred Heart Church in Jeffersonville.
The thought of leaving all of our old friends and our priest and the activities we were involved in — such as taking Communion to members at the nursing home, working with the women’s committee monthly luncheon, helping with the parish picnic and greeting new members — was more than we were ready to give up. Therefore, once a week we made the trip back to Jeffersonville for Mass.
Meanwhile, we visited a few churches in Louisville but never found one that had all we were looking for. However, work on the bridges and traffic snarls forced us to look again for a parish in Louisville.
During our search, we visited Holy Trinity Church for the first time and were more than pleased at what we found. We encountered Father J. Mark Spalding, the pastor of Holy
Trinity, who always had a straightforward, unforgettable sermon, sometimes sprinkled with a little humor for us to take home and discuss during the week. The combination of his homilies and the welcoming attitude of the parishioners, who encouraged us to join when they found we were looking for a parish, convinced us that becoming members of Holy Trinity was the right choice.
Our one-year anniversary of joining the parish passed. We attended Mass every week and sat in the same pew every Sunday. Some of the people who encouraged us to join often visited before Mass, gave us a hug or asked how we were doing.
We had experienced several changes since joining the parish, illness being one of the largest. Now, each Sunday morning I call my husband at the assisted living facility where he lives. I ask how he is doing, and if he feels well enough for me to pick him up for Mass.
He seldom says no, but on one Sunday he said he was not well enough to go. This episode was followed by a hospital stay. Therefore, he was unable to go to Mass the next Sunday also.
That Sunday, as I sat in church waiting for Mass to start and thinking of my husband’s illness, I felt a touch on my shoulder. A lady sitting in the pew behind me leaned over and spoke to me.
“How is your husband?” she asked. Her concern touched me, and I told her he was in the hospital. She expressed her sympathy.
“I will certainly remember him in my prayers,” she said.
I thanked her and turned around, blinking away the tears that were trying to escape. She may never know how her concern and those few words lightened my spirit and gave me hope.
Carridder “Rita” Jones is a member of Holy Trinity parish in Louisville.
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