Deep things...and then a sandwich

Joan - the deli lady in my office cafeteria , was making my sandwich last week and I was regaling her with a story of how my little Noah was pulling off his socks right in the middle of the noon day Ascension Feast Mass and how the priest saw the whole thing from the pulpit and caught up with us after to tell us about it. It sparked off an almost immediate spontaneous confession from her about how she was 'actually Catholic' but never really went for Mass. Finding a lovely opportunity to plant a seed - yet again - I probed her gently and her first reason was that 'the priest who she admired and loved when she was a little girl' was now retired and she stopped going ever since he stopped being their parish priest. Hmmm!!! .... And then came the next almost matter of fact reason that a cousin was abused by a priest and that's why....I quickly lifted a prayer - I had to tread carefully and it is no wonder at all that the Holy Spirit quickly put words in my mouth - the words that ONLY God knew would move Joan. Referring to the first reason, the words that tumbled out of my mouth were that if Fr.X only knew he would be a stumbling block in a relationship between Joan and Jesus - he would probably do differently. If he knew his flock disappeared with his retiring, he would be deeply saddened because then it would mean he failed in his life's mission. Joan's face changed colors with that revelation. I knew it struck a cord within her. She gave me a tight squeeze and whispered 'Thank you for telling me that...I'll try and go for Mass again...' and ran into the pantry to wipe tears. I doubly blessed my sandwich as I ate it that day.

"The spirit searches into all things, even the deep things of God."—1 COR. 2:10.