PEACE AND JOY

One of my most thrilling adventures took place on the south island of New Zealand, a land blessed with a bounty of variety and beauty, including fjords, snow-capped peaks, crystal clear lakes, rain forests, and rolling green hills covered with 70 million sheep (and a human population of about 3 million). I was driving a solitary road that snaked around a river or lake when I came upon a solid wall of fog. I stopped the car, got out and walked to the fog, trying to see through it. I could not. Even my hand disappeared as I stuck my arm into the fog. After waiting a while, I decided to venture forth slowly with bright lights, while honking the horn. Driving through the thick fog was like entering the Twilight Zone ~ part of me in the present, part in the unknown. Thankfully the fog disappeared after about 50 feet.

Life can sometimes feel that way: transitioning from one point to the next, one foot here, the next seemingly nowhere. As a missionary and even prior to my religious vocation, I have had a number of these transitions. They can be a time of anxious moments, perhaps even frustration. But, mostly I have discovered that they are a time to most fully experience the Holy Presence…and get some real direction in life.

When I first ventured on blind faith from suburb to inner-city I had no clue where life would lead. During that first summer I accompanied my son, Steven, to a camp for teens preparing for a mission to Belarus and Poland. One night I sat in my cabin reading a Pauline letter calling us to be “ambassadors”. Looking up from the Bible the first object my eyes focused upon was a painting of Jesus standing as tall as the United Nations Building behind him. I had been in this cabin for more than a week, yet this was the first time I had noticed the painting. I wondered if there was a message here.

Later, at my new parish, Sacred Heart on the near south side of Indianapolis, I attended a parish retreat. After a morning of lectures and spiritual exercises we were given time for rest and reflection. I laid down near a window where sunlight warmed the carpeted floor. As I dozed, I dreamed that I had entered a huge mansion (like the White House). Upon entering the house I heard someone playing a piano. I followed the music and saw Jesus at the piano. After he stopped playing, I reported to him (much like an ambassador) that the violence in Southeast Asia and Africa was getting worse, did he want me to go there to help bring peace. He said, “No. Just bring peace wherever you are.”

It did not take long for me to be quite active in the parish and in the neighborhood. I was also a daily communicant, attending the 6:30 morning Mass. I would usually go around 6:00 a.m., take about 20 minutes in silence with our Lord before entering the chapel for daily Mass. On one occasion, I closed my eyes and saw myself, as if in a dream. I was standing in a park-like setting, with a river or lake separating me from trees on the other side. Then I noticed Jesus and Mary across the water. It was an odd sensation. It was as if I was in a movie and at the same time I watching myself in that movie.

Jesus motioned for me to come across the water. I remember thinking, “Will I walk on the water or through it?” I began to walk on water until I got about half way, and then I fell through the water, yelling, “Jesus, save me! You know I can’t swim.” He said, “Frank, you need more faith.” Then he elevated me and I crossed to the other side.

When I got to him, I hugged him and embraced Mary. And then I looked at him eye-to-eye and asked him, “What do you want from me?” He said, “Share my peace and joy, so that all will see me.”

I don’t know if it was a dream or a vision. What I do know is that when I went to Mass that morning, the Gospel reading was of Peter walking on water, falling through, and being told of his little faith. When I heard those words, goose bumps immediately covered my arms and the back of my neck.

Peace and joy…PACE ALLEGRIA (in Italian). It has been a goal and a challenge.

As I wrote in my last blog, this is one of the reasons for my work with Food for the Poor ~ to help to build peace by bridging the gap between rich and poor…and to feed the hungry…but most especially to help bring out the Christ in those to whom I preach.

Others in our lifetime who strove to build a peaceable heaven on earth, such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Oscar Romero did so by imitating Jesus and his message of non-violence and of truth. As Gandhi said, “What I believe, I think. What I think, I speak. What I speak, I do.” He also said, “If there is peace in our hearts, then at least in one place on earth there will be peace.”

We have lots of good advice and faithful models to achieve this illusive dream. But in the end all these words and examples become just as empty as those of Jesus, unless we ourselves enflesh them. Peace begins with us…within us…by being true to who we are and whose we are.

Peace and joy is my wish for you. But may these words be more than a wish…may they evermore become a part of your life and mine.