I was late. Again. It’s nothing new for me, but it was driving me crazy none the less. Around the corner from the parking lot into the separate handicapped parking area I sprinted when a woman with a bag on her shoulder came running up to me so very daintily. Through the fog of muttering at myself in my head for being late again I almost didn’t even notice her until I heard her ask, “Do you know where they’re having Mass today?” Still stuck in between self pity and self loathing I turned around and jogged backwards as I nodded my head back and said, “It’s in the Chapel during the week, not in the Church”. Then I realized this poor lady was trying to catch up to me and I was being incredibly rude to run past her, so thoroughly focused on my own problems was I.
I slowed down to a slightly fast walk (which I now realize was probably all but a jog for this lady as she is a full foot shorter than me) and as she pulled up even with me said, “Oh thank God you were here, I was convinced the Devil was going to keep me away from Mass.” My body may have kept moving toward the Chapel door, but my brain stopped dead in its tracks right on that spot.
I don’t know why she was so desperate to get to Mass that morning – I’ve never seen her there again since, so I can only imagine it was something very important to her. She needed to get to Mass and God delivered the help she needed, just not in the way either she or I would ever have imagined it. I know that God can work good out of bad and even evil situations, but turning my penchant for being five minutes late into being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time wasn’t one I had expected. Think about that the next time you think nothing is going to help your situation.
