Sydney Tietz – In the Presence of the Lord

May 2023

If you attend a weekday Mass at Sacred Heart, you’ll probably see Sydney Tietz there with her little ones, Mary, 2½, and Ryan, 14 months. Sydney’s love for daily Mass began during her freshman year at Dowling, when older sister Shelby would drag her to school for early Mass in the chapel. Although Sydney resisted at first, she grew to love it. The sisters also joined a student group called Handmaids of the Lord, a team of joyful and confident young women who inspired Sydney—a self-described nervous teenager—with their love for Jesus. “I really wanted what they had.”

As Sydney spent time in Adoration with the Handmaids, she began to realize that she could have a personal relationship with Jesus. She remembers a favorite teacher saying, “Adoration is like getting a suntan. You might not feel it happening, but being in the presence of the Lord changes you.”

Sydney took this to heart and began attending Holy Hour at her home parish, Saints John and Paul in Altoona. There, the small group of “regulars” gave her the honor of carrying the monstrance back to the tabernacle after Holy Hour and placing the Sacrament inside.
One evening, Sydney spent her entire Holy Hour wallowing in negativity and self-doubt. She was still beating herself up as she carried the monstrance toward the tabernacle. Glancing down, she noticed her reflection in the shiny gold of the monstrance, but she didn’t like what she saw. “Lord, why did you make me so awkward?”

That’s when she heard His voice: “I wish you could see what I see.”  

“It was out of nowhere,” Sydney says, “because I wasn’t capable of having that thought myself. I just stopped and cried and thought, ‘Whoa, that was Him.’”

That one simple statement from Our Lord changed things for Sydney. “It was like a little secret,” she says. “My confidence grew exponentially.” The shy, nervous teenager realized that if she had God’s approval, she didn’t need it from everyone else. Feelings could lie, but His truth would never change—and with His unconditional love, she was going to be okay.
Today Sydney is a busy mom, and quiet time with Jesus is really hard to come by. Whenever she can, she loads her babies into the car and heads to Sacred Heart for daily Mass. It’s one way of putting herself exactly where she wants to be: in the presence of the Lord. And her kids can be there with Him, too. “The greatest gift I could ever give them is helping them know Our Lord.”