Surprise

“The saints surprise us, they confound us, because by their lives they urge us to abandon a dull and dreary mediocrity.” Pope Francis

 I often wonder if a saint would have known that their destiny was in God’s hands. I have seen two popes in audiences, and I wonder if they had any inkling that they might be chosen as pope. God really is the God of surprises. He brings us to new paths, new experiences and new people and it is something that could surprise us if we are really paying attention. Sometimes, we can convince ourselves of what we want. God has other ideas and he manifests himself in different ways. In his book The Religious Sense, Luigi Giussani states, “The more one lives this level of consciousness in his relationship with things, the more intense the impact with reality, and the more one begins to know mystery.” We might like to think we are in control and know where we are going, but reality teaches us something else. Sometimes, these are tough pills to swallow.

“I will spend my Heaven by doing good on Earth.” St. Therese of Lisieux

Recently, my friends in the Carmelite Cloister had a ‘come and see’ day. They were somewhat surprised by the number of people that did actually come and see. Who knows what seeds were planted that day? A friend reminded me of a monastery in Italy that was in a state of disrepair. Today, there are a number of young vocations which have brought it back to life. This is certainly not their doing. It is the Holy Spirit. I visited St. Therese’s shrine in France once with some great intentions. I thought about how she wanted so much to go on mission. Instead she died young and decided to spend her time in Heaven helping us. She is certainly doing that. When we went to see the movie, Cabrini, the Holy Father told her that her work was not in the East but the West. She obeyed, maybe begrudgingly, but off she went and she likely surprised herself. God does this to us. Once, in our parish, we watched movies each week of the popes since Pius XII. When the time came for John Paul II’s movie, the narrator mentioned what a surprise that conclave gave the world. The media loves to chat about who might become Pope in a conclave. God has other ideas.

“Pray to be ever ready for God’s Will, even when it takes you by surprise.” St. Mary MacKillop

I often wonder how ready we would be if these surprises in our lives would show themselves to us. Do we embrace them or run away? Clearly, only a person of faith could be ready for such gentle coaxing from Our Lord. It all begins with prayer and it all begins with surrounding ourselves with people who might be ahead of us, ready to show us who we really are and where we are going. It can be a scary road but it is certainly a worthwhile one. Every saint could attest to this.

“Do not be surprised if you fall every day. Do not give up, but stand your ground courageously.” St. John Climacus