Something to See (01/29/2024)

I’m short. I sit in the first or second row in church usually because everyone older than the 6th grade is taller than I am, and I can’t see around them. But during the two high seasons of the Church year, I must sit in the back of church because I’m allergic to the evergreens and poinsettias of the Christmas season and the lilies of Easter. The LORD has a sense of humor. But the LORD also has a divine design. I’m learning that. When I am forced to do something I don’t want to do but need to do, there is usually something to be gained. I have found that there is usually something to see, something to discover, some epiphany I miss when I’m up front.

During the Christmas season this year, as I sat in back, so many individuals stopped on their way into mass to ask me a question like how do I get someone to visit my mom now that she’s homebound or how do we get the bulletins to the homebound who don’t have internet? One Sunday there were eight individuals who stopped to ask me a question. I learned from those inquiries that there are needs in our midst that aren’t being met and that there is a problem in how we communicate things within the community.  And I set up a meeting with the parish priest to talk to him about it.

The other gift that I received from sitting in the back where the ushers usually sit is being able to greet everyone as they come in with a smile and a nod, sometimes a handshake, sometimes a hug. When I sit up front, I don’t see the others at Mass. They are all behind me. They come and they go without me seeing or chatting with them. My sense of community, of fellowship, of companions on the journey are enhanced and enlarged when I am forced to sit in back.

It's taken me a while to understand the mysterious ways of the LORD. When the things of the world negatively impact me, I have found that the LORD uses those moments to teach me something, to show me something I need to know, I need to see. Oh, the LORD does write straight with crooked lines, indeed.

As I have reflected upon this situation, my mind took me to other places I didn’t want to be like the cancer center. But I saw so much there that I didn’t know before such as the pain and suffering of so many others, the loving kindness of the nurses and doctors, the hopes of the patients, the fears of the family. Within that environment, I discovered a deeper understanding of unity in Christ with my sisters and brothers.

As we continue on our journeys of faith, let us remain open to the mysteries of the LORD and to the marvelous way the LORD works in our midst. Let us put down our “druthers” and pick up instead whatever the LORD is inviting us to see, to notice, to comprehend from a different view, from a different perspective. Let us look closely because there is something to see.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.