Not Just Another Fish Fry
By Keith King
As I was working the St. Max Fish Fry, I looked out across the gym floor at all the patrons and had to laugh to myself in disbelief. Just the previous year, I was attending the Fish Fry with my kids and was not even a member of the church. In fact, I was not even a member of any church. I was just getting some fish. It is amazing how much can change in such a short period of time.
How I went from being just a random guy going to a Fish Fry to an actual member of St. Max in less than a year is quite the story. Too much for this short article, but here is a bit of it.
Eight months after attending the Fish Fry with my kids, a friend invited me to his Christian church. He said that I would love the music and the fellowship. I was looking for a church and had been doing so for quite a while. So, I decided to take him up on the offer and go on a Sunday morning at 9:00am. In addition, for some unknown reason (perhaps the Holy Spirit?), I decided to go to St. Max right afterward at 11:00 AM on that same Sunday.
On that selected Sunday, I went to his church which had great music, coffee, and fellowship, but I found it to be lacking. Something was missing. There was a void. It felt like so many of the other nondenominational churches I had attended. After the service, I got in my car and drove to St. Max.
When I arrived, I nervously walked up and was not certain what to expect. I had not regularly attended the Catholic Church in over three decades. I walked in and was pleasantly greeted by smiling faces in the gathering area. “They have to know that I don’t belong,” I thought. “Oh well, whatever.” Then I entered the sanctuary. I was completely floored. I was instantaneously transported back to the Catholic Church I grew up in as a boy. The layout was exactly the same. The baptismal font, the holy water, the altar, the crucifix, the statues, the candles, even the pews. I was overcome with emotion. Just simply amazing. I could feel it. It was beyond palpable. Yes, I could feel it. I was home.
And when I heard Fr. Jim’s homily, I felt it even more strongly. I was where I was supposed to be. Just amazing. The feeling was so powerful and so right that I got up early the next day and went to morning Mass. And as I sat in my pew, way in the back of course, I felt like I was in some type of deep spiritual stupor as to what was happening. What was I doing at morning Mass? I am not a daily Mass person. I am not even a Mass person. What is happening?
Those early days of coming back to the Catholic Church here at St. Max rippled into an array of amazing occurrences. I started saying the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet with the morning Mass crew. I began regularly going to Adoration and confession. I slowly started to meet people and get involved in church activities and ministries. Each one of these many events possesses its own amazing story of providence.
Today, it has been just over a year and a half since that first Sunday Mass at St. Max. The random fish fry that I attended has evolved into going to daily Mass, daily Rosary, lectoring, serving as a Stephen’s Minister, joining the Knights of Columbus, serving on the Twinning ministry and Parish Life and Stewardship Commission, joining my Exodus brothers, attending bible and book studies, helping with the Men’s Breakfast ministry, and assisting with weekday Mass petitions.
How did all of this happen? And happen so quickly? Was it the fish fry? Did the Holy Spirit use that original fish fry to spread seeds of hope and invitation? I wonder.
Perhaps the events that we offer here at St. Max have more profound impacts than we are aware of. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is more heavily at work with our activities than we know. Perhaps this is all happening exactly according to God’s timing and God’s plan. Perhaps He is actively using our events to bring in more followers and more disciples. Yes, I believe that. I truly do believe that.