At the end of my post last week, I wrote of the joy I felt
at a beautiful sunset. Well, tonight I
think God might have been mocking me, a bit.
When I went into the adoration chapel near sunset for my
regularly scheduled time, I could only see wisps of the sun which had seemed to
be shining a lot of late. But still, I
perceived its presence through the thin clouds.
As I prayed, time passed, when suddenly there was a loud bang! It was thunder. And then there was bright lightening, and
rain began to pour. But as I looked up
and around me, I noticed that a mother and her three very young children had
quietly entered the chapel. They knelt in
silence in the pews, staring at Jesus there in the monstrance. Some more loud bangs rang out, and I glanced
at them again, but they didn’t react to the loud noise.
Then, as I completed my evening prayers, I looked up again
and saw that the woman and the three small children were now sitting on the
floor in front of the altar, hugging one another, looking up at Jesus. I can’t adequately describe how beautiful
that scene looked, and I sensed a great joy rising from Jesus on the altar,
looking down at His little children. And
as I quietly left the chapel, I didn’t voice the “Goodnite, Jesus” words I
usually speak on exit. But as I reached
for the door handle, I perceived a small voice within me. It was saying: “And you thought what YOU felt
last week was a great joy! Hah! This is MY joy!”
And I smiled as I walked out into the rain.
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On the way to church this Sunday morning, I was tuned to
Divine Intimacy Radio on EWTN. The
program hosts, Don and Stephanie Burke, were speaking with a farmer who lived
in the mountains of central Georgia. He
said he lived inland, and so rarely felt the full impact of any hurricane ---
until this time. He described the
damages to his property, and that of a neighboring farmer, also Catholic. Within an hour of the brunt of the storms
passing, they were up and about to mitigate damages to them and their livestock,
and that of other neighbors. It was
heartening to hear how families and neighbors cared for each other, and how God
was part of their thanksgiving for the events which happened as they did.
After 10 minutes of very interesting discussion, I switched
my radio to a classical music station, and its calming impact before I arrived
for Sunday mass. And in the soothing
music I suddenly thought of my long-ago friend, MaryEllen, and how she and her
husband survived the floods which destroyed their Tennessee home, and their
children moved them into a small apartment in a senior care complex. She too was critically impacted by a storm,
but quickly found how much she was needed in her new situation, by both
neighbors and her husband. She sent me
an email how God had blessed. I’ve kept
that email for many years, and only in recent weeks shared it with others, who
were struck by her words so much so that they now saw God in new ways in their
lives, and how they might live them.
And after these thoughts of people making good out of
disasters, I suddenly thought again of that woman and her small children, whom
I saw sitting on the floor before God last night. And I suspect that, like with them, He found
joy in the farmer’s and MaryEllen’s use of their lives. He loves all His children, the little ones,
and the ones who move forward, trusting in Him like little children, even
during disasters.
