(The Nationalist, 13 December 2002)
Everyone from time to time has experiences that stand out in our lives and make an impact on us. But sometimes we forget them because of the pace of our lives, and we lose their benefit.
Here are some that I have had recently and that I hope I will hold on to and not forget.
A young woman suffering from cancer said to me that she coped with it by living from day to day. Her motto was: ‘Yesterday’s history, tomorrow’s a mystery, today is a gift – and that’s why we call it the present’. Thank God she has now recovered.
A young man who found that his life was directionless and who had scoffed at the idea of God – the Big Bang was his chosen obstacle – found himself becoming depressed. Finally he decided to lift up his arms in the privacy of his own room and ask God for help. He did so, feeling almost embarrassed although he was alone. He told me that he experienced a presence beside him which he believed was real. He cried for three days with joy and relief. ‘Why did you shut God out in the first place?’ I asked him. His answer was simple, ‘It’s easier to be an atheist.’ He now speaks openly and joyfully of his faith in his work as a night-club DJ.
A young married woman was told by her doctor that she was incapable of conceiving, and also that she would be unable to avail of IVF treatment. She would have to resign herself to being childless. She didn’t accept this and prayed every Saturday to Our Lady for a child. She became pregnant. One Saturday evening, in the later stages of her pregnancy, as she went to Mass, she felt herself beginning to go into labour. Should she go straight to hospital or wait until after Mass, she asked herself. She decided to wait until after Mass. She told me that the priest, who usually was quick, was slow that evening. She thought he would never end. But still she waited. When Mass ended she went to hospital where she gave birth safely. I baptised her baby recently.
A young married man who came to the church with his wife to have their baby baptized said that the baptismal clothes the baby wore were the same ones that he had worn some thirty years earlier when he was baptized. For him, this was a symbol of the faith being passed on from one generation to the next, and he hoped that his child would pass on the same clothes to her child when the time came.
None of these is anything earth-shattering, but each was a golden moment in the lives of those concerned. It is good for us to hold onto such moments and to treasure them.