Listening For The Voice of God: Your Weekly Catholic Reflection
Today’s Gospel recounts several times when Jesus’ disciples failed to recognize their beloved friend and teacher, even when he was right in front of them. Why do we sometimes fail to see Jesus in our midst? Joe is a compassionate member from our community and our recent Angel Investor. Last week we received a letter from Joe sharing his personal experience, recognizing a call to grace in the face of an especially vulnerable child:
I’d been supporting CMMB for some years, and I thought I knew their work. When I received another email, I expected a regular update, but this was something different. CMMB was sharing a new way to help children. Becoming an Angel Investor would mean an on-going commitment and a one-on-one relationship to support to a specific child in need.I was moved by the personal stories of all the Angel children who just needed a little help so that they could achieve their God-given potential. I was definitely interested, but hesitant. Over the next several days, I kept returning to CMMB’s website, drawn by the stories of poor children with simple needs; God’s children, who inherently deserved a chance at life, a chance to grow and develop. They were asking for so very little.
Although I was particularly touched by the story of Jonel, a Peruvian boy with cerebral palsy who had been abandoned by his parents and is being raised by his grandparents, I remained hesitant. After all, supporting a seven-year-old boy with special needs would mean a long-term commitment. In the past, it wouldn’t have been unusual for me to rationalize myself out of making such a commitment, but this time, thankfully, was different.
Maybe it was because I had just finished reading Matthew Kelly’s ‘Resisting Happiness,’ where Kelly equates resisting God’s will for our lives with resisting happiness. I don’t know, but I do know that for some reason, this time, instead of listening to all of the doubts ringing in my head, I decided to listen to God’s ‘still small voice,’ and do what I thought He wanted me to do.Making a commitment to Jonel filled me with a sense of joy for being able to help, in a real, tangible way, a real person; a little boy with a beautiful face and a name I now know. And in this case, I also feel blessed to be able to help, in a small way, Jonel’s grandparents who I think are unquestionably the saints in this story.I have no doubt that supporting Jonel was the right decision. The joy I derive from learning more about him, and the updates on his progress are proof of that. Jonel has truly blessed my life.