Monday Musings - What A Web He Weaves

[The following post is among 175 reflections on the Eucharist  published by the Lay Dominicans of St. Joseph Province in a book entitled Godhead Here In Hiding Whom I Do Adore - Lay Dominicans Reflect on Eucharistic Adoration.  If you want to draw closer to our Eucharistic Lord, I highly recommend you get a copy.]

God works in mysterious ways. He had a plan for me the instant He thought me into existence. Everything that has happened in my life has been intended by Him to be for the salvation of my soul. Of course, I must willingly consent to follow His plan. He will not force me to do so. It is often hard to discern that plan. Some of us spend a lifetime and may never discover our purpose in life until we are close to standing before His throne of justice. So recently, God let me glimpse back in time so that I could see with absolute clarity, how much He loves me. Looking back nearly seventy-five years, I see God’s ever-present Hand in my life more clearly than I have ever had in the past. The blinders have been removed.

My twin sister and I were born in Brooklyn, New York, welcomed by loving parents and four siblings at the time. By the way, we lived around the corner from Queensboro Dairy storage plant. So what? You will see later. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic Schools. I abandoned a priestly vocation and later my Catholic Faith. I dropped out of school, joined the Air Force and after being discharged got a college education. After completing law school, my family and I moved to Canastota, New York. We had never stepped foot into that little Village but were “prompted” to make it our home. Guess what? I later learned the main milk processing plant for Queensboro Dairy was located in Canastota. A coincidence?

Thanks be to God’s grace, the birth of our first daughter, and a priest who cared about the salvation of souls, my family and I returned to the Church and the Sacraments—St. Agatha’s parish to be specific. Father challenged me a few years later to begin celebrating my Baptism date as my birthdate. I had completely forgotten where and when I had been baptized. I did research and found it was at St. Agatha’s in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. Oh? Another coincidence?

Several years later, I asked the pastor if we could open a Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration chapel? We could not cover the monthly 24 hours First Friday devotion, but he humored me: “If you can establish support for it, then go for it.” That Chapel still exists nearly twenty-two years later. I would joyfully get up in the early morning hours to be with Jesus. Some of that time was spent on my knees gazing into His Eucharistic face. All of my time there I beseeched God for the salvation of my soul and those of my family and loved ones.

One of the original adorers was a young man who taught at a local Catholic high school. He lived about 10 miles from our Chapel. He was not a member of our parish. I had never met him personally, but he called and asked for an early morning hour of Adoration. We gladly accommodated his request. Jonah was faithful to his weekly commitment. At one point he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. God miraculously cured him and put a Dominican vocation in his heart. He stopped doing Adoration and entered the Dominican Order. Our chapel adopted Jonah and prayed for him throughout his priestly formation. To show his appreciation for years of prayerful support, Father Jonah Pollock, OP returned to Canastota after his ordination and offered a Mass of Thanksgiving which almost all of the adorers attended.

I knew nothing about the Dominican Order at the time Father Jonah entered the Order. I was unaware that there was a Dominican monastery of cloistered nuns close by in Syracuse. An acquaintance asked me to drive him to Syracuse so he could attend a meeting of Lay Dominicans. I had no idea what Lay Dominicans did. I accompanied my friend to the meeting. He never returned, but I discovered my vocation as a Lay Dominican.

Father Jonah was assigned to New York City to work with the terminally ill at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Over the years, he has trained countless other priests in this most vital ministry. Years later, my twin sister would be a patient there. I tracked Father down and asked if he would go visit Jane. He did. She was pleasant and appreciative but not ready to make her peace with God.

Five years later, I received a call from Jane’s caretakers that her long battle with cancer was coming to an end. She had been transported to a local hospital in Manhattan. I was recovering from surgery and unable to travel. Of course, my first thought was of Jane and her soul. I picked up the phone and dialed Father Jonah’s cell phone. It had been years since I had spoken to him. I didn’t even know if this was still his number. To my utter relief, he picked up his phone after the first ring and said, “Hi Mike! How are you?”

I tearfully explained Jane’s situation and her nearness to death. There was a soul to be saved! Father immediately left, saw Jane, told her that Jesus loved her, asked if she wanted to receive last rites and administered them to her. She died peacefully a few hours later. Father blessed our family again by celebrating her funeral Mass, reminding all present that “Jesus loved Jane”.

Coincidences or God-incidences? If I had never moved to Canastota, if I had not returned to the Church, if we had never opened an Adoration Chapel in our parish, if Father Jonah had never spent time there as an Adorer, if he had not become a Dominican priest who cared for the spiritual needs of cancer patients, if he had not been assigned to New York City where Jane lived, if he had not answered his phone, if I had not become a Lay Dominican, Jane might have lost her soul.

Don’t ever question the necessity and value of spending time in God’s Presence. His reward for such sacrifice, adoration and faithfulness is to save souls! What a wonderful web He weaved!