Before jaunting to the “great steps” we stopped outside of the internet café so that I could use the skype account, checking internet accessibility. It was not in service. We opted to walk to the steps and then try the internet later in the day. When we arrived back at the internet, we met our favorite waitress, Victoria. She brought our green mint tea, and we began to skype.
After about 30 minutes, a married couple approached us and introduced themselves to us as Americans from the great state of Texas. They told us their names (Crystal and Bill), where they were from, and that they were here, too, for the purpose of adoption. The next words out of Crystal’s mouth were, “We’re Catholic and we’re headed to church, would you like to come?” Kenny practically bounded out of the chair with a “yes,” as we had been asking Sveta earlier that day to help us find the Catholic Church.
Packing up our electronics, we eagerly followed Bill and Crystal to the Catholic Church in Nizhniy Novgorod. Conversations in English with someone who was having a similar experience and were American was a blessing…and they were Catholics that wanted to go to daily Mass.
The church was on a back street off our typical path. Yet, we had passed it many times on our way to Subway. When we entered the inside, a young woman was leading the rosary. There was an older Russian woman, two sisters, and a deacon reciting the rosary with this young woman. Then, they prayed the Divine Mercy novena. Father Mario, the pastor, was in the back corner in an open confessional. Interestingly, he had asked permission from his bishop to come to Russia in 1996 for only one year. He has been here ever since. He is well known in the area of Russia.
Before Mass, Father spoke to Bill and Crystal and they introduced us to Father Mario. He thanked us for coming to Russia to adopt a child.
As Mass began, a blind man who was definitely a Russian Orthodox, came into the church. I think we were in his seat, so Bill helped him to the other side near the old Russian woman.
Father Mario celebrated the Mass in Russian. Many parts of the Mass were sung. He did read the gospel in English, as well as Russian. Father also gave his homily in both languages. One of the sisters played the organ and the other sister sang. Communion was in both forms - body and precious blood. Before the final blessing, Father Mario called Kenny and me and our new friends to the front of the alter. Prior to Mass, one of the Sisters had brought out a small silver bucket of holy water and two of something. We learned very quickly it was for us. Father prayed over us for the adoptions, he blessed us with Holy Water, and presented us with beautiful pictures of the Risen Christ. We were given small candles and asked to light them (of course, I extinguished the main source and it had to be relit…a little levity to the tears that were welling up). We placed our candles and returned to our seats for the final blessing. I remember looking at Kenny and saying, “I think this is your sign.”
After Mass, Father Mario gave us a gift of incense for our home parish and invited us and the other couple to have tea with him at the rectory, which was above the church. We spent about 90 minutes sharing our stories and learning about the church history and Father Mario.
The remainder of the evening we spent with Bill and Crystal sharing our stories and experiences and introducing them to some Russian food, since they had only eaten McDonalds. When we toasted at our meal, Crystal said “God is good.” Of course, you know I responded, “All the time.” And then we continued with “All the time,” and “God is good.” (Hmmm, for those of you that know me in my role as principal, you’re probably thinking,… another sign…?)
Sometimes God’s signs are subtle, and sometimes,…. He hits you over the head with the sign. For Kenny and I, there was no mistaking that this entire event was a sign of affirmation for the decision that we have made.