When he was at table with them, he took the bread. He blessed the bread, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him!(Luke 24:13-35)

Monday, November 26, 2018

Sometimes our gifts are for others



A pickup truck changed lanes in front of me without a signal and I had to put my brakes on to avoid a collision.  Before I could get angry enough to honk my horn and show my disapproval to the driver with a certain hand gesture, I notice the bumper sticker on his tailgate.  It was 1Sam 2:5-9.  Instead of getting mad, I memorized the reading number and told myself to look it up as a preparatory prayer for Mass. 

It is part of a prayer that Hannah (Samuel’s mother) prayed before presenting Samuel to back to God to be taught by Eli, the prophet to fulfill her promise to God if He would give her a son.

“The well-fed hire themselves out for bread, while the hungry no longer have to toil.

The barren wife bears seven sons, while the mother of many languishes.

The LORD puts to death and gives life, casts down to Sheol and brings up again.

The LORD makes poor and makes rich, humbles, and also exalts.

He raises the needy from the dust; from the ash heap lifts up the poor, to seat them with nobles

and make a glorious throne their heritage.

For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he has set the world upon them.

He guards the footsteps of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall perish in the darkness; for not by strength does one prevail.”

I wondered why the inconsiderate (or possibly just unobservant) driver would have this specific Bible passage on the back of his pickup truck.  Then I realized that maybe it wasn’t for the driver, but for me.  After all, the driver can’t see the bumper sticker, but those who are following too close (either unintentionally, like me, or on purpose) can.

Because I like to think I’m one who actively listens for God’s voice in my everyday life, it did not go unnoticed that a prayer using an image of a “glorious throne” was literally placed in my path on the Solemnity of Christ the King.

But the image didn’t stop there.  As I reflect on the same passage in the light of today’s Gospel reading—when Jesus noticed the widow putting in “all that she had” into the collection plate (Luke 21:1-4)—I am reminded of a gentleman who used to attend the 5:30 PM daily mass at one of the churches in Bakersfield. 

The church has Perpetual Adoration in their chapel.  This means that at any time of the day or night (with a code to the security gate) parishioners can pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament to ask for intercession or simply converse with Jesus.  Whenever I would attend the daily mass at that chapel, there was a man sitting in the front pew right in front of the altar playing his harmonica in a low tone. 


Occasionally, I could figure out what he was playing, but not often.  Sometimes I thought he was composing his own song, since he would play the same notes over and over and over again.  He was an older man who walked with a stoop and had very arthritic fingers. 

At daily masses it is uncommon for a lot of music to be sung or even prayed.  But this man would always play his harmonica during the offertory rite and again right after communion.

One specific word in today’s gospel is the key to my story.  Jesus “noticed” the widow.  At first the old man’s harmonica playing was a distraction to me and my own ability to be “in the moment” with Christ at mass.  But the more I “noticed” him, it became clear his playing was his ‘giving all he had’ to God through his meager talent.  After a few weeks of “noticing” him, his playing became a portal through which I entered into a more meaningful prayer with God.

Since I’ve retired, I no longer go to that mass.  I wonder if he is still being used by God as an instrument (pun intended) to deeper prayer for others.  Maybe, if it’s possible, an even deeper prayer than Hannah’s.

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