In August 2016 my local ambassador invited me to her church, and I was so happy to attend my first ever Sunday Mass in DC.
For a Muslim I thought the experience would be weird or over-whelming, but I found it lovely. It was such a heart-warming experience going to my first mass back in August 2017, and I was so excited to attend my first Christmas Eve Mass in Saint Dominic Church in DC.
On December the 24th I had mixed feelings once I entered the church. It was so cold outside, but I entered the church and I just felt the warmth; not only coming from the candles but also from people greeting me.
At the first glance, I was blown away by the colorful decorations and the scent of the flowers and the candles at the church. They gave us a booklet to keep up with what the choir is singing, their voices were breath-taking. I was so amazed to see how angelic the songs were. It’s just so beautiful to listen to prayers from a different religion in a different language. You relate on a genuinely deep level of humanity. You connect to the sound of humming in prayers, and kids who cry because it gets so quite or long sometimes. It was a spiritual evening, that started with greeting people who I didn’t know their names, and ended with Joy to the world. I felt connected in a way that is so valuable.
If I learned one thing from today, it’d be how similar people are; regardless of their nationalities, ideologies or religions. We aim for peace and warmth. We’re in a continuous search of a true meaning of life and a genuine reason to why we exist, and we thrive when we find more people looking with us. I feel that it’s very important to step out of your comfort zone from once in a while and to give yourself a chance to understand, to know, and to love others.