Saturday March 10, 2007

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

March 10, 2007


“Show us wonderful signs.”

Micah 7:15

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Each one of us needs these glasses. They allow for a special kind of seeing. You do not go to the store to buy these glasses. As a matter of fact, you cannot buy them. They can only be given to you. When wearing the glasses, you can see the heart of the universe. Through their lens, you see the invisible God becoming more and more visible.



I learned a lesson about these glasses when, right after graduating college, I traveled with my brother and a friend to Europe for seven weeks of backpacking. We were in Assisi, Italy and my brother was pretty sick, weak and tired with a severe soar throat. It was a Sunday and we had no idea where we could find medical help and a place to stay. We decided to go to mass and lo and behold one of the Franciscan priests from our university comes walking into church just before mass. We all saw it as an amazing work of God (you see, we had our glasses on) that God would send us to this mass out of the probably around thirty masses that would be offered at the various churches in Assisi that day. Fr. Dan greeted us with joy (“Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” Leon Bloy- again, it can only be seen if we are wearing the glasses), and asked us how we were doing. We told him that my brother was pretty sick and without hesitation Fr. Dan asked us to join him in a praying over him.



Without hesitation, Fr. Dan turned to prayer. What if you and I did that all the time? What if we really believed in the power of prayer? So many of us want to see God’s signs of healing, peace and power and, yet, we do not pray. We keep going on about our pain, suffering and problems but we do not harken to God for the glasses to see him in it all. We want to see God but we hesitate, delay or do not go at all to God. What if, like Fr. Dan, we always turned to God in prayer without hesitation? What if our very first response was to look to God in prayer? We would be given the glasses and see the very power of God in our midst.



Let us pray: “Loving God, we pray for the glasses only you can give. We want to see the beauty you see and know the love that you are. Help us to know your saving and soothing power in our midst. When a worry or trial arises, without hesitation may we turn to you in prayer. You are Emmanuel, God-with-us, ever ready to show forth your power from the very center of our need. Without hesitation, before we turn to anything or anyone else, Lord, may we turn to you. Thank you for being ever-present. Amen.”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John