God is sneaky
It ought to be easy to know when the grace of God touches your life.
Bells should ring, lights should flash and giant exclamation points should appear in the sky. There should be signs to let us know when God comes close, whether it’s in prayer, in worship, in exuberant song or in some unexpected event.
That’s what should happen. But, certainly for the most part, it doesn’t. And we may miss noticing.
This is hardly a revelation. We live busy lives and events rush by us more quickly than we can take note. Is it any wonder that we sometimes miss seeing the grace of God that surrounds us?
That’s the thesis behind the theme of “Finding Grace” which appears in this issue of The Catholic New World. The suggestion to pursue this “Finding Grace” theme came from Dawn Vidmar, our advertising manager. But, as she reminded me the other day, the idea actually came from Cardinal George.
When he was first appointed as archbishop of Chicago, he visited the offices of New World Publications, the archdiocesan agency which publishes this newspaper and other products. I wasn’t on board yet and arrived some six months later. But during that first visit, someone asked our new shepherd what he hoped the newspaper would accomplish for people. The cardinal responded, “I would like it to be an instrument of grace.”
That’s something we’ve tried to live up to. And this issue is another opportunity to remind people that the grace of God surrounds and flows through us daily. Whether we recognize it or not.
As you read the comments from people from all walks of life, one thing becomes apparent: bells don’t always ring and lights don’t always flash when grace appears.
Too bad, perhaps, but that’s the way life is. God can be sneaky. If we want to recognize grace and God’s presence, we have to train ourselves to watch for it. Then—as people will assure you—you’ll see it all over.
In addition to the special section inside, the theme of grace is included in the Page 3 column written by Father John Canary, archdiocesan vicar general, and in The Interview on Page 7.
My own awareness of needing to seek out the presence of grace came more than a decade ago when I was writing a book called “Small Miracles, Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People Touched by God.”
I solicited stories of “small miracles” from people all over the country who believed they recognized the touch of God in their lives. Ultimately I collected more than 2,000 stories.
It became apparent to me that a “miracle” wasn’t so much what happened to someone as it was whether they were able to see God in the event.
The stories were simple and profound, lighthearted and deeply moving. Were they great theological revelations? Of course not. They were just humble expressions of faith.
A couple of the stories from the book are excerpted on Page 3a. But here’s one I always liked:
“Mother told me to keep the gardenia until after she passed away. That’s when it would bloom, she said. It would be a sign from God that she was in heaven and freed from her terrible pain. I didn’t put much trust in her words. But we kept the plant.
Three months after her death—well past a gardenia’s normal blooming time—the plant suddenly burst into color.”
The book, which was published by Zondervan, is out of print after selling a more than adequate number of copies. But no author who’s worth his salt doesn’t have a few score books tucked away for emergencies. That is, if anyone’s interested, of course.
Tom Sheridan
Editor and General Manager
