What do we do with spiders?

A simple walk led to an encounter that has stayed with me for a week. I was in Buffalo, NY for a conference and took a late morning walk to the nearby St Joseph Cathedral. My intent was to see a bit of the city and take some pictures.

When I walked into the church there were only two other people in the dimly light space bathed with sunlight filtered in through the stained glass windows. One gentleman was kneeling in a pew half way up the center aisle. Another young man, hair in a ponytail and backpack in tow, was ahead of me in the side aisle looking about.  I assumed he was a visitor like me, taking in the beauty of the space.

The light illuminating the tabernacle drew me to the front of the church. I knelt to say a prayer of thanks than began taking pictures. The young man pick up something from the floor then genuflected to the Blessed Sacrament. Guess he was moved to pray too.

I moved to my left to take in the main sanctuary. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the young man was now on his hands and knees, moving his right hand up and down the marble “toe kick” at the base of the side chapel. While the behavior was unusual I wasn’t concerned, mainly because I noted the other gentleman was still praying a short distance to my left so we were not alone in this big space. A few moments later the young man was also at the base of the sanctuary.

“Excuse me,” the young man said to me, “What do we do with spiders?”

I turned my head as he raised his right hand up from the floor to reveal a small spider working feverishly to extend the dusty strand that now hung in mid-air.

“We let spiders go. They are helpful because they eat bugs.” 

The young man thanked me and gently lowered the spider to the floor of the sanctuary before resuming his trek along the marble toe-kick. I kept taking pictures of the windows, remembering the spider I watched outside my hotel window the night before capturing insects in its web.

“Excuse me. What do we do with pins?” the young man said, raising to stand with an open hand in which lay a  large corsage pin. This time I thanked the young man for finding the pin as it would be dangerous if someone knelt on it. I secured the pin on my jacket sleeve.  I turned to explore the small chapel where daily mass would be celebrated at noon and the young man returned to his search along the floor.

A half hour later, I turned around to share the sign of peace to discover the bright smile of the young man. He extended his hand to me, this time empty of spider or pin. His earlier questions rushed back to mind … “What do we do…” The young man spoke a truth I did not recognize until that moment: WE. He saw us as connected from our first encounter. Each of us are members of the Body of Christ who consider what we do in going about our individual lives.As sisters and brothers in God, we should be unafraid of reaching out to one another for council or for celebration.In our ordinary, yet unusual, exchanges the young man and I were doing the extraordinary thing what we do…come together as we are, distinct and essential members united in God’s family.