Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
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March 28, 2020In 2002, there was a world youth day in Toronto. Together a priest friend of mine took our youth groups.
We took a bus, and when we got up to Toronto, the driver of course did not know where to go. Fr Clint (now a Benedictine, Fr. Jean Luc) and I had maps. These were only maps world youth day sent to us, and were very incomplete, and printed on a very small scale. Not knowing a new city, we had no landmarks, no bearing to base where we were or to get an idea of where we were on the map. In the days of maps, before GPS was popular, if you don’t have a landmark or a state of bearing it is hard to figure out where you are and where you are heading.
There was a lady on the bus who was one of our chaperones, and suddenly as Fr Clint and I were looking at the maps, and trying to help the driver, she began to flip out, I mean she really got crazy. She started breathing heavy, and kept yelling, “I don’t know where we are, I don’t know where we are, I don’t know where we are.”
She even said “I don’t know if we are in the right city!” She kept repeating it over and over in a deep panic.
It took us a long time to calm her down. Why? Because, often we are insecure and fearful when we don’t know where we are, or about anything when we ‘don’t know.’
This is what happened today in the Gospel. The people in today’s scene, did not know a lot about Jesus. They did not know the facts of his history, where he was born, where he was from while growing up, etc. They were insecure and fearful since they did not know the facts about Him. It was too mysterious. The way he was talking, acting, the things he was doing. Not knowing Him, it could create fear, wounding why is this man do different and acting so opposite than we are used to. It is similar to being lost with no state of bearing.
If you knew Jesus and about Him, there would be no fear, no insecurity, no confusion. Some of the people in the Gospel were like Fr. Clint and I, knowing we were in the right city and knowing we have a map and some facts, and willing to learn the town and get where we are going in order to experience the World Youth Day. But, some of the people were like the lady on the bus, not knowing and not open to knowing or learning, only basing Jesus on the facts they knew. The bus driver was much like the guards, never being there before, only doing his job, yet entering into an experience he would never forget. He was learning the town and experiencing catholic Would Youth Day and our faith.
In the Gospel, the guards did not do all they were supposed to, the did not arrest Jesus because they ended up in an experience with Him. The bus driver ended up enjoying Toronto in ways he would have never imagined instead of just driving us dropping us off and not enter in.
Which type of person are we? Do we refuse to enter into all Jesus / God asks of us because we do not know the facts of it or how it will turn out or what it will be like? Do we avoid the Christianity we should be practicing, i.e. helping the homeless, being nice to others, living mercy and forgiveness, sacrificing, and the many expectations God has of us? Do we allow ourselves to be open to experiences, enter in and learn, and be all Jesus taught, even when it is a challenge without solid facts or information? In this way not knowing each and every minute of a day, but always being a Christian no matter where it leads us in a day or what it calls us do to?
Do we allow ourselves to enter in more deeply and let God take us to new and changing places as the Christians we are called to be? Know Jesus and experience Him and let Him change and mold your life more and differently every day for your work as a Christian.
As we experience this time of coronavirus, we are in uncharted areas, and the ‘not knowing’ can create much fear. Yet we know, down deep inside, Jesus is with us. Be confident in Jesus, and do not focus on what we do not know. Each Day, the city and especially our parish is being blessed with the Eucharist as Tom Kadlick (seminarian) and I take Jesus to the front of one of our churches and bless and pray to the Mercy of God, especially for trust.
Just repeat every day, many times, Jesus I trust in You! He will lead us through this time .
