When I was young, it was a custom that we would dress smartly in our “Sunday Best” for our attendance at Mass.

Nowadays, I would describe my attire for Mass as smart, but casual.

Last Sunday, I found intense joy in observing a young girl with blue hair and ripped jeans accompanying her grandfather to the altar with the offertory.

These are the gifts of bread and wine which are symbols of (wo)man’s labour which are offered to, and then transformed, by the priest during the Eucharistic Liturgy into what I and my fellow Catholics believe to be the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Her blue hair spoke to me of coming before God as an individual, expressing herself as she wants to be seen, yet so wonderfully it seems to me, being able at the same time to express her faith, which as individuals we form together in our community.

So often in the past, I have felt pre-occupied with outward signs of witness which suppressed the truth in my heart and as I have grown in knowledge and love of self in recent years, I feel intense joy at witnessing my fellow Catholics bringing themselves in all their quirkiness  to the Lord’s House.

My next blog will be : The Importance of “No”

William Defoe