A Call To Faith

I had lunch with some former co-workers; it was great to catch up on how things are with them and the company, but I didn’t have much to say about the non-events of my life.  They offered me a job in Brazil, a special assignment to start up a new business there, which sounded like it would be interesting.  I’ve never been to Brazil, but I hear it’s a good place to visit --- and sightsee.  But of course, I turned the offer down.

Dar, my cleaning lady came over today.  She was whizzing around the house, not stopping to chat.  “I’ve got to catch a flight at the airport at 2 o’clock,” she said.  “I’m going to Florida for a week.”  After a bit she said: “Okay, I’m out of here.  You mentioned construction on the expressway, and I don’t want to be late.  Here, take this money --- and don’t argue with me.  I cut some corners today,” and she laid half my money back on the table.  The house looked just as clean as she always leaves it, even if she rushed.

I went to ma’s tonight.  She was pleasant, and tired.  She asked to go to bed at 8 o’clock, and so I came home early.  I caught the end of a Little House on the Prairie episode which I hadn’t seen before; Jonathan was praying for his very ill son out in the middle of nowhere, and he built an altar and prayed to God for his son’s life.  When an old man appeared to him, he said it was time.  Jonathan asked: “Will He take my son?”  The old man responded: “If He does, will you still have faith?”  Jonathan said: “Yes.”  A storm came up, lightening struck the altar and Jonathan and his son, and then Jonathan awoke to his now- healed son asking him: “Are you okay, dad?”

I set the alarm for a couple of hours to nap.  Earlier this week someone had asked me to switch adoration midnights with him, and I agreed.  He did my Tuesday, and I’ll do his Thursday.  I had only napped for fifteen minutes or so, thinking about those things above while in a semi-sleep, when the phone rang.  My neighbor needed to borrow a few more dollars for gas.  I checked my wallet and said yes, I’d meet him across the street in a few minutes.  I walked over there in my bare feet, and met him as he walked out his front door.  He thanked me, and I began walking back home ….. until squish happened.  I’d stepped in a present his dog left for me on his front lawn.

It seemed fitting.

Life isn’t always as we’d want it, or plan it.  Sometimes we dream about doing things we can’t.  Sometimes we envy those who can.  And often into our lives, shit happens.  But there are good things in our lives, and good people.  We need to be thankful.  And when we are faced with all of it, even the worst, we are challenged:  “Do you still have faith?”

Next week starts the Year of Faith in the Catholic Church --- a call to find God, even in the midst of the pains of our life.  What will you do differently this next year?