First Communion

Last week on Sunday, November 18, I attended a niece first communion. It has been a very special day for my niece, Jovanka, and she's happy her family was there to support her. Van can hardly wait, she has been thinking about her First Communion intention for weeks and one of her wishes was to take grandma (my mother) to church on her very special day (mom was Buddhism but she sent all her children to Catholic schools). However, life is so unpredictable, my mother passed away exactly a week before Van's first communion. But as the old adage goes, life goes on and we all have to move on.

The First Communion Mass was held at St. Francis church in Bogor, with 130 or so children and their families crowded into our church. It was quite hot, and long, but also beautiful (the choir was great). I really love to watch the children, in their purity, prepared to receive Jesus into their heart and what it meant to be a Catholic. It was also fun to see the kids in all their best clothes, black bow ties on the boys, white dresses on the girls (Van's favorite color is pink so I bought her a white dress with a bit of pink accent). Each child looked so cute and adorable. We were again so happy Van has taken another step on her spiritual journey. As I looked at the group, I felt a surge of emotion...about 28 years ago, on my first communion day...