Surprised by God

During my graduate study days at the St Paul Seminary, one of the books we were required to read for a class on conversion was C.S. Lewis' "Surprised By Joy." This autobiographical book was an account of his process of conversion, or metanoia as we like to call it in Catholicism. C.S. Lewis found within in his life's story moments in which God touched his life, surprises as he so well stated.

All of Holy Week is about surprises. Imagine the surprise that both the apostles and the Sanhedrein and Pharisees felt when Jesus entered so triumphally into Jerusalem. Imagine the surprise experienced by the apostles when Jesus got down on his knees and washed their feet. Imagine the surprise the apostles experienced at the first Eucharist when Jesus shared his body and blood with them when he broke the bread and shared the cup. Imagine the surprise the apostles experienced when Jesus was arrested in the Garden, his torture, and his execution. Imagine the surprise experienced by the apostles when Mary Magdalene reported to them that Jesus had risen,   and then, when Jesus, himself, appeared to them in the Upper Room where they cowered in fear.

Holy Week is all about surprises, good and bad. Sounds a bit like all of our lives, doesn't it? Within our own lives are many Paschal Mysteries, whereupon we experience the surprises of passion, death, and resurrection. In each of these surprises God is not absent, but very much present in order to surprise us.

I recall this past December 27th when Ruthie and I were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary. Our kids did not want this milestone to go unnoticed and so arranged for all in our family to stay at the Church House in Red Wing. Ruthie and I thought it was just going to be the gathering of our intimate family, our kids and grandkids. When we walked through the doors we were surprised to see Ruthie's dad, her brothers and her sisters, who made the special trip down to Red Wing to celebrate the night with us. What a wonderful surprise.

We have also experienced the bad surprises, my sister's terminal illness, my father's death, my having to have my artificial hip taken out because of the MRSA infection, Ruthie's sudden blindness, and so on.

We have our surprises of joy and our surprises of sorrow and agony. However, within each of the surprises in our life, God is there waiting to surprise us with grace.

As a spiritual director, the one question I always ask people when they described both the joys and sorrows of their lives is, "Where is God in this?" Where is God in the loss of a job? Where is God in the graduation of a child? Where is God when an unwanted diagnosis is given you? Where is God in the birth of a child? God, like the infamous Waldo, in "Where's Waldo?" is there, just waiting to be found.

Our God is a God of surprises just waiting to be discovered and experienced. All we have to do is to look.