A wonderful childhood memory is still alive within me. A memory in which I experienced a profound tranquility in the home of an elderly neighbor. My grandmother had sent me to share something with her on the occasion of a holiday; I suspect it was Easter, as I remember it was spring. I was invited into the neighbor's house, I sat on the bed covered with a blanket woven on a loom, probably by her own hand, and for a while I waited alone in the room until the neighbor went to the kitchen to take what my grandmother had prepared for her. It was clean, everything was in its place, and there was silence... Such a great silence, bringing peace and light... I had never felt such a wonderful and profound tranquility in a house before. For years, with the memory vivid within me, I didn't understand where that tranquility came from. But for some time now, I've started to understand. The neighbor went to church and prayed. I suspect that before I came to visit her, the elderly woman had prayed, because I sometimes found that same tranquility in my own prayers.
I felt the same state in other houses where elderly women lived, but not with the same intensity.
Recently, I entered a small wooden church dedicated to Saint Anthony, in the city where I live. I have been to this little church many times, but I wasn't always aware of the feeling I experienced when I stepped inside. One day, however, I felt the emotions born in my soul there more profoundly and vividly. I bowed my head in prayer, then looked out briefly through the church window. During this time, I had the same experience as in childhood, in the house of the neighbor to whom I had given what grandmother had prepared. Then I understood that... some houses can transform into house-churches. Through the lives and prayers of those who live in them, they can become sanctified, and you can feel as if you are in a church when inside them.
I wished I hadn't had to leave the little wooden church for the noise and turmoil outside! But I left thinking about how to turn my own house into a church. An impossible mission without God's help. So I prayed to God, even though I am unworthy, to have mercy so that, at least in my little home, I might find that state of peace broken off from Heaven. I hope to experience this joy until I depart from this world. May God place fervent prayer within me and holy experience, so that I may sanctify not only my house, but all the places I go.
I ask for a lot, I know, I am unworthy, but I ardently desire this!
Iulia Enache
Photograph by Josue Verdejo / pexeles.com