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I was in church yesterday morning because you know? Sunday
and all, and well of course, I had a whole lot of stuff I wanted to talk about
with the “big man up there”. I got
to church like 5 minutes before the mass was to begin (I’m catholic by the way),
just cos’ I’m punctual like that.
Other members of the congregation were hurriedly walking in
as the choir began the entrance hymn indicating that the priest
was about to begin his procession into the church and the mass, about to begin.
As I sat taking in everything that was going on around me, I noticed this
elderly lady who was sitting on the row of seats to my left. She appeared to be
holding up a white paper of sorts towards the altar and was mumbling some things
quietly. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the mumbling was her saying
some prayers, but what I didn’t quite get was the piece of paper she held up
towards the altar. The praying lasted for about 2 minutes, after which she put
the paper down. But then, almost immediately, she held it up again, same way,
facing the altar, and continued with her praying.
Now I was very eager to find out what was going on. What was
on that piece of paper that was so important to make this very old woman do
that kind of hand exercise that early morning; I mean, I don’t even think I can
hold my hands up that long in all them “praise
& worship-white-handkerchief-spirit-is-moving-sessions”. Biko, my hands
need to come down and take a break so that the spirit can flow smoothly. Even
this guy back then in the Bible, Moses, did he not need help keeping his hands
lifted up during that battle? Who am I then to keep my hands up that long? And
here was this elderly woman doing it like it was nothing. So I just had to know
what was on the piece of paper. A letter bearing bad news? What?
Again, she put the paper down. Now I zoomed in with my “aproko eyes” (Aproko meaning: someone
who pokes his/her nose into other people’s affairs) to see if I could get a
closer look at what was going on. For those of you wondering how I was doing
this “amebo” (Amebo: synonym for
aproko) work while mass was going on, don’t worry, mass hadn’t yet begun, choir
was still singing entrance hymn and sha giving low-key background theme song
for the "detective movie" that was going on in the church.
So back to the old lady. I saw her put the paper into her
bag, and just then, I got a closer look at it. It was a photograph of a little boy;
I’m guessing maybe her grandchild. I had goose bumps. She had been praying all
this while over this child, while raising a photo of him towards the altar. I hoped
nothing was wrong with the little boy. As I was still lost in my thoughts, I
saw her take out another photograph, of a young lady, possibly her daughter, and
the same cycle repeated itself—she held the photo up facing the altar, said some
prayers for some minutes and put it back into her bag. As she
dropped that one, I saw her take out another one, of a young man, and the same
cycle followed.
People of God, as I got a closer look into this woman’s
handbag, I could see a stack of photos, I’m not kidding. She was taking each
photograph out, one after the other, raising them towards the altar and making prayers
over each person in the photo. There were photos of her grandchildren, a
wedding photo, possibly of one of her own kids, a photo of a young lady pregnant
with a child, some group family photos, I mean; this woman had an entire family photo
album in her bag. I had to tap my cousin who was sitting next to me to see what
I was seeing, she too couldn’t believe it.
Now of course people do things like this a lot in every
church, you see people carrying pictures or personal belongings, etc to the
altar for the priest or pastor to pray over, and all that stuff, but this
woman? Naa, she took her own to a whole new level. Watching her patiently do
that over every photograph she had in that bag was both heart-warming and scary at the same time.
And
after seeing something like this, someone will tell me that Christianity is not
a low-key form of witchcraft and wizardry, haa! Hogwarts, you people are sha
still learning work, come and see your seniors.
The priest started making his way into the church, so
everyone stood up as the mass was about to begin. I watched her hurriedly pray
over the remaining photos as she stood up also. There and then, I just
thought to myself, “whoever this woman’s people are, I don’t know y’all but I definitely
would not want to get on your bad side”. And to anyone out there who’s
trying to make trouble for them, or trying to cause them harm in anyway, I pity
you “cos’
you dunno, you dunno whaiz going on”.
I glanced over to where my mum stood, just in the second row
of seats to my left, and I wondered what incantations she must have been making
there and then in the silence of her heart over her own children and her own
family.
Well, whoever coined the saying “Mum’s prayers keep me going”
wasn’t lying at all. Make sure you give your mother a big hug today!
Till next time folks! xoxo!
Alma Rosenfield.