“Come Back” (07/06/2025)

I sat alone in my pew, but I didn’t feel alone. In the pew just ahead of me sat a mom with four of her children. The youngest noticed me immediately. We made eye contact, and he smiled broadly. He felt seen; I did, too.

Several times throughout the service, he looked back at me to check if I was still there and still friendly. And we’d smile. Then as we were kneeling for the Eucharistic prayer and his mom was very attentive to the celebrant, he saw his chance. He slowly, oh so slowly, moved to the end of the pew. Then he quietly slipped out into the aisle. Then his eyes met mine. With my finger, I silently communicated “come back”. He looked at me, smiled broadly, and stepped back into the pew and returned to his mother’s side.

I don’t think the mom realized her son’s interactions with me. But we knew. When the sign of peace arrived a few minutes later, he turned to me. I called him by name and shook his hand saying, “Peace be with you.” He beamed. He was pretty engaged for a 3-year-old.

The LORD calls us to join Him on “the Way.” He asks us to make the journey with others, to accompany one another. He asks us to help one another along the way, to look out for one another, even to encourage another to make changes. “Conversion” doesn’t always look the same. We hear the “Come back” sometimes in the scripture reading, sometimes in the homily that speaks directly to us and our struggle, but sometimes the invitation to turn comes from another through words, through example, through presence. So often, the LORD uses a disciple to help another disciple along the way.

So, we must be firm in our resolve to follow Christ. We must seek to follow in His footsteps. When we see another stray, we are called to lovingly reach out, without judgment. And when another finds us and lovingly motions us to “come back”, may we be open to the LORD’s use of disciples and the Spirit’s presence. May the one being called to “come back” feel seen, feel loved.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.