Day 7: I Cried Today

I gave today’ post this title because it rarely happens for me since I grew up in a home with an alcoholic. This show of emotions is reserved for rare occasions such as the birth of my children and death of my father. (Ok, I must admit that a love movie such as Serendipity can get me too if I let it.) To the heart of the post…God is amazing! We need to trust in him rather than trying to plan the future. We need to do the next good thing, focus on the next person he sends our way, be present now not looking to the future. Five years ago I could never have predicted this moment in time that He needed me for. At the time he needed me to surrender and just say, ”Yes,”answering my vocational call to the Permanent Diaconate. This moment of divine tears came after evening prayer. Fr Jude is even mixed up on his days of the week so he missed prayer time. Since he wasn’t there to routinely bless the seminarians the seminarian leader for the night said in the gentless and kindest voice that is the norm in Uganda, “Could we have a blessing from Deacon Matt?” It wasn’t a request to hurry up and do it so we can be finished and eat. Rather it was a request to someone who represented something that they had great respect for. A request for a true blessing that has great meaning to

them. A request to receive something that they so greatly desired. This one moment in time made every sacrifice over the past five years to answer my vocational call and every struggle to get back to Uganda six years later worth it. This is how God wants us to spread the Good News. This is how people learn that the Christ is Jesus. This is how the world learns to love their neighbor. This is how Jesus wants us to love him back. This is how we bring His kingdom here on Earth. This is how we improve a country. This is how we save the world! One person at a time. One encounter to the next. One simple act of love. As St Teresa of Calcutta quoted St Therese of Liseux, “Do simple things with great love.”