With the Grace of God, We Carry On

This week I received requests for three Sonshine Friends who have been diagnosed with cancer.

We all have crosses to carry in this life, from disease, injury, and heartbreak to challenging the violence in the world around us. None of them are crosses anyone desires or requests. They are given to us not by God but by the reality of limited human bodies and broken human societies.

The question becomes how do we carry those crosses that are a part of every human life? Do we carry them with anger, resentment, fear, self-loathing, or regret that ripples out into the world through unhealthy actions towards others? Or do we carry our all-too-human crosses with patience, self-worth, gratitude for the goodness that remains, and a trust that even in this unwanted cross God is at work?

In that moment of imagining Jesus calling my friends to carry cancer, I suspect they tearfully said yes, with tears of consolation that even this cross could somehow be used for good. They just had no idea how.

There’s a story about a cancer patient who walked into the cancer center for their last scheduled chemo treatment with no idea if the chemo was winning and a very long transplant road still lying ahead. Just after she checked in and took a seat waiting to be called for the requisite pre-chemo labs, a middle-aged woman with glassy eyes walked over and gently asked, “Do you mind if I ask you about your experience? My mom just got her diagnosis a few days ago, and we don’t know if the chemo and radiation will be worth what it will do to her quality of life. This is our first visit, and we don’t know what to do.”

She shared with the woman all about her experience, what questions to ask, and what had been hard for her, but noted that everyone’s experience is different—different cancers, different treatment plans, different prognoses.

But she could share one thing they might have in common. She told her one of the good parts of her experience was that her diagnosis had given her time to prepare for the end of life on her terms.

She have been able to say everything that needed to be said to those she loved, she planned her final arrangements and knew that she will die with a sense of peace of being loved, whenever it happens. It was only in articulating it that even she realized how much she had been transformed over the last few months.

The woman’s eyes welled up with tears, and in less than ten minutes they had become companions on the road. She had no idea what she and her mom decided about treatment, but when she returned, the lady left her a note scribbled on a piece of paper torn out of her notebook full of questions. It read, “Thank you so very much! You have a great light inside of you, and your smile lights up a room! Thank you for allowing me to speak with you.”

Instantly she remembered that image of being called to carry her cancer with God.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that whatever crosses we carry in this life, others will follow behind us, carrying similar crosses. Facing any experience of suffering or human challenge with a sense of calling to use it for the greater glory of God doesn’t mean God gave us the cross. Rather, God invites us to find him in it and be transformed by it in ways that only experience can teach. With the grace of God, we carry on.

 

I Just Want To Scream

 

My neighbor Maggie has a health insurance plan that provides a healthy benefit to purchase frozen prepared meals delivered to your home. She recently was discharged from the hospital after a fall. These meals are a God-send since they are very nutritious and easy to make in her microwave.

 

Hour One. It's 8am and I am calling her medical insurance company to order more of these healthy frozen meals. The first customer service agent is the vendor for the prepared meals. She says the subscriber can order online. Maggie has no computer. I request to make the order over the phone. After an hour, I am told I need to contact another department and given a phone number to call.

 

Hour Two. I am calling the medial insurance healthy rewards department. This customer service agent wants to email a catalog of products Maggie can order using her healthy benefits subscriber U-card. Maggie receives $213 each month to spend on approved supplies. However, I notice that there are no prepared frozen meals in their online catalog.

 

Hour Three. I am now rerouted to a third department and this customer service agent explains the subscriber healthy benefit service. I share that I am looking to purchase more of the prepared frozen meals, and she has no clue what I am talking about and puts me on hold on and the line goes dead.

 

Hour Four. I call back the Healthy Rewards department and start again with my request to order the frozen prepared meals and this customer service agent give me another phone number to the service vendor called RFoodX. Remember, this was my first call at 8am and their agent could not order over the phone.

 

Hour Five. I call RFoodX and start from scratch and this customer service agent reviews Maggie’s benefit plan in which she has $213 to spend each month on supplies that I was informed include the frozen meals. However, this agent says that I need to call the Healthy Benefits department and they can take her order over the phone. Really?

 

Hour Six. I am back calling the Healthy Benefit department and explain again my request to the customer service agent that I want to order the frozen prepared melas. She reviews Maggie’s benefits that include $213 each month for supplies, She explains that she can take orders for supplies from the catalog over the phone.  I once again share there are no frozen meals in their catalog and share the vendor RFoodX will not take the order over the phone. I request to speak to a supervisor who can solve this problem and complete the order. I am put on hold. This time a manager comes on the phone, I share the problem and she gives me a fourth phone number to call another department..

 

Hour Seven. This new number is to the Healthy Reward department. I share with the customer service agent the purpose of my call is to order the frozen prepared meals and that the vendor website RFoodX says to call their number for customer service. You guessed it, the phone number comes to the Healthy Rewards department. I am told to call the medical insurance customer service department.

 

Hour Eight. It is 5 o’clock and I am defeated. But for one last time, I contact the medical insurance customer service department. The agent is very sympathetic, but he has no clue what to do and it’s now 5:58 and the service closes at 6pm EST. He transfers me to another customer service agent.

 

Hour Nine: Folks, we are talking to Jeremy. I start from the beginning and Jeremy listens. He reviews Maggie’s online medical plan that includes benefits that indeed include frozen prepared melas. He noticed that her card is from 2023 and she has not been reissued a new 2024 card. The U-card number needed to purchase the frozen prepared meals online is incorrect. I require a new U-card number. I have no idea what is the correct U-card number since there are five different number on the front of her medical card and two more on the back of her medical card. Jeremy and I are working together online to login into her account and update her file.

 

Hour Ten. 7:30pm. We have uploaded on the medical insurance website Maggie’s information to get a new 2024 medical card. This will generate a new U-card number to hopefully order the prepared meals. I go back to the RFoodX website and put in the U-card number and the site says “incorrect” number. Jeremy on his own time shared that he doesn’t hang up on his customers until the problem is solved. However, the main office closed an hour and half ago but he chose to stay on the phone with me. He promised to call me back at 8am the next morning.

 

Hour 11: It's 8am the next morning and no Jeremy, I wait till 8:15 and call the health insurance customer service. No, the agent doesn’t know a Jeremy. He transfers me to another department. I ask this agent I can’t locate Jeremy but can he give me the new U-card number to order the frozen prepared meals. He notes online that a new card was ordered yesterday but we have to wait two weeks for the card to be delivered by snail mail. The subscriber then has to call the health insurance to activate the new card. On this new card is the new U-card number. I ask this agent for the new U-card number so I can order her food. He replies that due to security reasons, I have to wait for the card to be mailed which takes two weeks and Maggie then has to call customer service to activated the new card. Again, I am defeated.

 

Hour 12:  I decide to make one more phone call to the health insurance customer service department and Casey answers. Question, can you kindly give me the new 19 digit U-card number so that I can order the frozen prepared meals for Maggie before her Healthy Reward benefits expires for this month. Casey looks up the number and without any fuss shares the 19 digit number with the security code. The last four digits of this number do not match what is printed on the website. This is a God moment. I notice that when Jeremy had me login online to get Maggie her 2024 subscriber card, a new U-card number was issued. However, the 2024 card thst appeared on her login page was not undated and incorrect. I asked Casey, please don’t hangup. Let me go online to the RFoodX checkout order form, insert the correct U-card number and security code and by the grace of God, it works!!! Thank you, Casey.

 

It took 12 hours, 18 agents, 6 different phone numbers to make the online purchase of the meals.

 

In the meantime, Maggie has returned after ten days in the hospital. At the family meeting with her nursing staff, I complimented the physical therapists for their excellent work since she has improved her strength and mobility to get around.You thought I gave this staff a million dollars when they smiled and thanked me for the compliment. This customer service in the hospital unlike the managed care nightmare was outstanding and a God moment.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have been victims of a scam called our medical insurance system. The chaos and nightmare of getting the services from your medical insurance are the result of management that is out of touch with the human need to listen, to learn and to love their subscribers. Sadly, managed care is not interested in customer service but fleecing the patient when one is sick and most vulnerable.  Lord, give us the patience and tenacity to challenge this injustice and stop the abuse.

 

A Little Becomes Alot

 

Five loaves and two fish. The skeptical disciple Phillips says, "How in the world are we going to feed these people? Are you kidding me? There's 5,000 people." But that's what the little boy had, and he offered it to Jesus, five loaves and two fish. Kind of hard to believe what happened next. Jesus blesses those five little loaves and two fish. He asks the 5,000 people to sit down, and He told His disciples, "Distribute the food to the people," and feed the people they did. So much so that after the people had eaten, Jesus had the disciples collect the leftovers and filled 12 baskets with the bread left over. The lesson is very simple. With Jesus, a little becomes a lot.

 

Hattie Wyatt lived in Philadelphia. She was six, maybe seven years old, a little girl. And one morning, she walked down the street to a little small Baptist Church for Sunday School. She had a Bible, and she had a little small offering, but she couldn't get in the door because it was too crowded. Pastor Conwell saw her. He placed her on his shoulders and he put her in a chair in the back in a dark corner. The next day, Pastor Conwell saw her on the street and he said, "Hattie, we're going to build a larger children's classroom soon." And she said, "I hope you will. It's so crowded. I'm afraid to go there alone." And he said, "When we get the money, we're going to build a space large enough to get all the children in, and we're going to begin to raise that money very soon." But he was really just talking. He didn't have any plans to do anything.

 

Not long after, Pastor Conwell heard that Hattie was very sick. Her family asked him to come visit, and tragically, not long after that, Hattie passed away. After the funeral, Hattie's mother handed a little bag to Pastor Conwell. And in that bag was 57 cents gathered by Hattie to be her contribution to the new children's classroom.

 

Pastor Conwell took that 57 cents to church and he announced to the leaders that he had received the first gift for the church's new building. He then offered her 57 pennies for sale to the people in the church. Most people paid about $5 each for one of those pennies, and so soon Hattie's 57 cents had become $250. 54 of the people returned the pennies to the pastor as well, and he framed them and put them on a wall for everybody to see as a reminder of Hattie Wyatt and her vision for the children in that church. 

 

The church purchased the little small lot in the house next door for $250. Hattie's 57 cents became the seed for that expansion. Pretty soon, the church outgrew that space. And the leaders saw a need for more mission space for children. They had a mortgage of $30,000 remaining on their original building, but the leaders stepped out in faith. Pastor Conwell met with the owner of a large lot and said, "We need a place to build a new church home." The man wanted $30,000. The pastor told him, "We've only got 54 cents, but someday soon we're going to own this lot." He went back and a few weeks later, the owner came and said, "He'd hold the lot for five years. I've made up my mind. I'll sell you the lot for $25,000 instead of 30, and I'll take the $0.54 for the first payment and hold the mortgage myself at 5%."

 

The largest donor gave on the condition that it not be named Grace Baptist Church. So instead, they called it the Temple. Pastor Conwell began teaching classes in that new home, begun with Hattie Wyatt's 54 cents. One little girl who saw a need all around her and did something about it. Pastor Conwell formed a school in that building, A Place Of Hope in 1884. Today that school is called Temple University. A few years later, the congregation opened a hospital, a place of compassion. Then a second, then a third, and all three later merged to become Temple University Hospital.

 

I can hear the skeptical disciple Philip saying, "Jesus, how in the world are we going to feed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish? Really?" I can hear the skeptical people in the cathedral saying, “Jesus, how in the world are we going to get people to come to our church. With God, all things are possible. With Jesus, 57 cents can birth the ministry serving hundreds of thousands of people. With Christ, 57 cents can fund a food co-op program that buys food in bulk, at discounted rates and donates to people down the street from your cathedral, With Jesus, 57 cents can host workshops, support groups, and educational events focused on mental health and support those who are struggling down the street from your cathedral, With God, 57 cents can become a community center and offer a secure environment that’s ideal for various events, such as: CPR and first aid training, supervised family visits, meetings for case workers with clients, blood drives, voting, town or county meetings, Police K-9 training, You get the point. Jesus Christ lives in you. With you, He can do extraordinary things because all things are possible. You and 57 cents just might change the world. With Jesus, a little becomes a lot.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have been very generous to their church, their family and neighbors in need. Bless the gifts they have offered and may they find their reward in your gift of everlasting peace with you in Heaven.

 

 

How Do We Treat People When They're Lost?

 

A Sonshine Friend in his own words asked me this faith question.

 

I have some relatives who have been pulled into the intolerant and irrational cult of personality. From a faith perspective, the attitude of some bothers him, as they're endorsing things they would have found abhorrent before.

 

For example, in the most egregious instance, one of his relatives told him the former president was the victim in the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol, and the real culprits behind it were the scientists and doctors who worked with the Chinese to invent COVID, in order to bring about one-world government.

 

If criminal charges are a far-left plot, well, then, the prosecutors, investigators and judge are dirty communist liars. And these same relatives are expressing worries about immigrants and LBGTQ community.

 

So let’s take this intolerant, aggressive, irrational, divisive tone and put it in the hands Jusus. And he says to his disciples, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while. You need some rest.” 

 

It would seem the crowd noises and their desperations have overwhelmed his disciples. And the human side of Jesus says, "Guys and gals, you've been working too hard. Come away. You need your space and you need to rest." And that's a beautiful human concern that Jesus expresses for their very human needs and what we are going through in our country today.

 

Jesus and his disciples come to the other side, getting off the boat, he sees  these masses of people. And what's his first reaction? His first reaction isn't, "I've got to teach these people spiritual things." He had compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. 

 

I wonder if we are like those sheep without a shepherd. We're in need of direction. We're in need of correction. We're in need of teaching. We're in need of wisdom. And very often in our lives, we happen upon other sheep without a shepherd. Very often we look at other people, what's happening in their life, how they're responding to what's happening in their life, and we think, "Wow, that person is lost." And that's a judgment, right? Jesus didn't get off the boat and say, "Wow, these people, they're all messed up. They are lost." No, he got off the boat with great compassion, "These people are sheep without a shepherd."

 

Were they lost and confused? Yeah, they were. Were they yearning and hungry for direction and wisdom and teaching and guidance? Yes, they were. But Jesus reaction is compassion, not judgment. And I think very often when we happen upon sheep without a shepherd in our lives, our critically thinking minds do go very quickly to judgment, and we have to retrain. And then, of course, what does Jesus do? As he landed, he saw the great throng and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends help us to tap into the compassion that you have for each of us, when we're lost? Help us to listen to one another, to be kind and not judgmental, to be open to your wisdom and guidance, to never accept violence but seek reconciliation, peace and understanding. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a” gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27)

 

 

 

Do We Hedge Our Prayers

 

How often do we hedge our prayers?  Instead of being bold and asking for healing, a miracle, or for God to show up and show up in ways we can’t anticipate or predict, why do we hold back?

A retired college professor had a colleague visit him. The professors went to the local diner for lunch. When my dear friend opened his apartment  door, a flash fire covered his face and he was rushed to the emergency hospital with first degree burns. I remember visiting him on the trauma unit, his face was red as a beet and covered with vasolene to ease the pain. He had no harsh words for his colleague who accidently left a lit cigarette in his waste basket that started the apartment fire. Rather, he whispered to me that “God’s will be done.” I prayed over his blistered face and bald head and anointed him with the Sacrament of the Sick. That night I prayed the Our Father, and got to the words “thy will be done” I said it like I had never said it before…  I had completely surrendered control over this – which was the only thing I could do since I had no control. That was when there came this sense of peace where I knew God had stepped in and in this peace I was convinced everything would be okay.

The following day I went back to the hospital and this professor spoke no longer in a whisper but with bold confidence and gratitude. “Your prayers father worked. I have no pain.”  His doctors said, “it was a miracle.” He  was fine, he would eventually be discharged out of the hospital and resume his life as before. Despite the horror of the flash fire and uncertainty, that experience that night convinced me that God was there and active. As my friend said to me, “praise God,” for he made a complete

Sometimes, we might think that our prayer lists is like a news reports, where we just rattle off headlines to God.  It’s as if we are an employee  popping into the boss’s office, informing him of everyone waiting for him in the office or on the phone, all seeking answers.  We think that we need to keep reminding or pestering Him and imaging He knows what to do…  Rather then remembering that He’s not some boss… and He doesn’t want us to see ourselves like an employee either. The amazing truth that He is a Good Father and He wants us to go to Him as His beloved sons and daughters with our thoughts, our feelings – to share what we’re worrying about, what is keeping us up at night… our desperate cries to heal our loved ones or ask for a little love for ourselves. He wants us to go to Him, to trust Him, and, to let Him speak into any and everything that we are experiencing.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have burning issues they have not shared with you. Instead of being hesitate or doubtful, may we find the confidence and trust to lay bare our fears and not hold back what needs to be said. Take our pain, our friend’s pain, our family’s pain and heal us with your saving power.  Like my dear friend said, “Your prayers do help, Praise God.”

 

BE BOLD

 

The people were astonished at His teaching. It happens all the time in the Gospel of Mark. It's the same Greek word, and sometimes we translate it in English differently. Astonished, amazed, surprised. But it's the same thing. Jesus cast out an unclean spirit, and the people are astonished. When he restores Jairus's daughter to life, the people are astonished. When he cleanses the temple, the people are spellbound. 

 

And they say, "Where did this man get all this?" The scribes and the religious leaders, the experts, thought they knew. They said he gets this by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. And here in the gospel, in his own hometown, the people reject Jesus. Think about it. The religious leaders, the spiritual experts, and his own hometown reject him. 

 

One message is clear: If you are going to take a stand for something, expect opposition. If you're going to be bold, there are going to be people who will oppose you, attack you, seek to discredit you, and even reject you. And sometimes, those people will come from the places you least expect it. The religious experts and his own hometown reject Jesus. But what's more important is notice how Jesus responds to the rejection.

 

First, he marvels at their unbelief, and then he carries on. He keeps doing what he's doing. In fact, he finds ways to do even more of it. What's the very next thing that happens after this in the Gospel of Mark? He expands the mission. It gets bigger. He sends the 12 out two by two. Jesus doesn't shrink back. He pushes onward and upward. He multiplies. Instead of just Him, now there's Him plus 12 more going out. He gives them authority over unclean spirits. He gives them the power to anoint, to heal the sick.

 

I have a Sonshine Friend who volunteers on his parish Evangelization committee. His fellow parishioners are struggling with an empty church. He shared that its “crunch” time meaning its time to learn how to invite Catholics whose churches are closing to join their congregation. 

 

Sadly, he admits as a parishioner for three decades, he has offered several ideas to welcome people searching for God to come to their altar but his ideas have been rejected. “It’s too much work,” has been their reply. Still in his heart he knows Christ dwells in his heart and his ministry has been to bring joyful song for all their services., You see my dear friend has served  as the church organist for decades and he is the best.

 

I reminded my friend how Jesus responded to rejection. He kept on peddling, meaning he kept doing what he does best. And He said, "Go preach the good news, and if people don't welcome you or refuse you, shake the dust off your feet." In other words, opposition and rejection, they're going to come. Shake the dust off your feet. Don't let it get to you. In fact, as long as you're doing the will of God, stay the course. Think about that. Jesus wasn't waiting on a vote or an endorsement or compliments. The mission must go on. 

 

He sends out the twelve, he expands, and then he carries on himself. He goes and feeds 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. Jesus perseveres. My friend shared with his committee a way to connect with people is not with a billboard but a social media campaign for that’s where  people connect with one another online.

Then the message needs to share that in his church people will be feed in many creative outreach services that include; a Food Co-Op, Supporting Homeless Shelters, Promoting Mental Awareness, Utilizing Community Centers, Organizing Outreach Events, Forming Small Groups for Targeted Outreach, Conducting Bible Study in Community Spaces, Partnering with Local Schools, Adopting Nursing Homes, Mentoring Programs for Young People, Community Beautification Projects, Hosting Skills Workshops.

 

I reminded my friend that the gospel is a lesson in persistence, perseverance, fortitude, stick-to-it-ness, and courage. We are a people of faith and trust, not fear and doubt. This message of courage, perseverance, and boldness applies in all kinds of ways. 

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine friends, especially those people like my friend who understand the power of faith. He knows what God can do. He knows that faith and trust overcome fear and doubt. Where does that come from? It comes from a deep sense within you, a deep sense of who you are, and of whose you are. You are a baptized child of God. You belong to Him and to Him alone. Be not deterred by haters, detractors, and critics. Your life is too valuable, your calling too high, your mission too important, courage, perseverance, and boldness. Be bold. Be Catholic.