Construction draws St. Mary’s community closer to God

By Ansley Skipper

Artwork by Ella Benitone

It’s a well-known fact by now that we go to school in a construction zone. But I bet you didn’t know that our new chapel space brings us closer to God and the Holy Ghost than ever before.

It’s any other day in chapel in Cheney Parish Hall. You’re seated, shivering but grateful; you got one of the seats with a cushion. The speaker is talking, about to reach the main point of her speech and…
 
“Yo Mario!”
 
Voices. You hear voices. From the back of the room. This must mean something. The perfect interjection at the climax of the speech. A voice heard, but its speaker unseen. It must be a message from above, from God himself. Like the burning bush calling Moses to lead his people, it must be a sign! Mario, you’ve received a calling. God has picked this message and this speaker to put purpose in your heart; you’ve been anointed.
 
The barrier between heaven and earth thins momentarily in that blessed space to just a black tarp. The divine is so close you can almost reach out and touch it like the extended pointer finger of Adam drawing closer to his creator.
 
Alas, the voices are muted now. The barrier reinforced with drywall and doorways. Heaven has receded. Though, during prayer, if you strain hard enough, you can still make out the utterances of those voices. Their Speaker sending a message to us all. 

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