"I've got it!" the young male stranger said. "I've already called." He walked toward the shaken couple, ready to be support team.
A woman, another stranger, walked over from another car, holding a towel.
"Here," she said to the man who'd fallen, "Press this against the back of your head." She'd seen the blood flowing down the side of his face and over his collar. Gratefully the man took it.
Both strangers waited with the couple until the ambulance came, the EMTs determined that the man didn't have a concussion, and the strangers didn't say their "goodbyes" until the wife determined to take the man to the hospital for stitches. She said "Thank you" to them, and told me that it didn't feel like enough.
"What would we have done if they hadn't come to help us?" she said.
It seems as if every time my family has some sort of an emergency, strangers, and some family members, and some friends - often unexpected ones - seem to come out of nowhere to help! I call these people "angels in disguise." But these are the people whom God uses to work everything to our good, to bring goodness out of the brokenness and tragedies of life, to be "Love in the flesh" for us. Through our interactions with others, God's purposes for our lives come to fruition. Perhaps you've experienced this yourself! I'm sure that you've been one of these "angels in disguise" for others.
What motivates people, including us, to go out of their (our) way, even sacrifice, for others? Fr. Richard Rohr sees a spiritual reality that binds all of us, including creation, together. He says
"There is an avbsolute, eternal union between God and the soul of everything....Our ego over-emphasizes our individuality and separateness from God and others....Everything is in God and God is in everything. It's all one. What you do to the other, you do to yourself; how you love yourself is how you love your neighbor; how you love God is how you love yourself; how you love yourself is how you love God. Once...you can recognize and honor the divine image in yourself, then you can honor the inherent dignity of everyone else too."
In God's eyes, none of us are strangers to each other. We are all united in Him. When we go to one another's aid, we're responding to the reality of our spiritual connectedness to each other, even people on the other side of the globe. We are all individuals, but we are united to one another in a way that we need each other to make the Greater Whole, what Christians would call "Christ and His Body," or the Communion of Saints. This, according to Catholic Theology, includes everyone who searches sincerely for God and for goodness.
If you weep at and for the suffering Christian and Muslim children in Aleppo, Syria, it's because your soul recognizes that they are part of yourself. When they weep, you weep. When others rejoice, you rejoice. This is why we're drawn to help and also be with others in many creative ways.
Joe Watson, Jr., in his article "The End of Despair," ("America" magazine, Dec. 19 - 26 issue), explains how he came close to commiting suicide - and the priest, and then the stranger, a psychiatrist, - who saved his life. He had been a good Catholic, who left the Church after he got married and had kids, because he had no spiritual life to speak of. He found it difficult to have a healthy prayer life because of all his responsibilities and numerous distractions. Then - his wife left him, a week after he'd decided to come back to the Church. He recounts
"I shudder to think of how things might be different now if I had not (come back to the Church.) I was even luckier to have found a wonderful priest who, though busy, took time to guide me back to a life closer to God. During this time, he gave me a piece of advice I would need to get through my darkest hours: 'You do too much; you need to pray more.' This priest and what he taught me were my salvation. Without the weeks I spent easing back into prayer, I would not be alive today.
"It was a Sunday in November and the case of a young woman who had chosen to take her life by physician- assisted suicide had been all over the news for the past week. I attempted to conquer the questions gathering like storm clouds in my mind. Could I too choose to make the pain stop by staying busy? I volunteered to help out with as many of the Mass duties and as many Masses as I could - pushing the inevitable away and lying to myself that everything was O.K.
"Eventually the action was over and everyone had to go home. There is always a point when the doing ends, and then we are faced with the deafening and the horrendous silence that is our thoughts. The light was extinguished; the darkness had conquered. Every thought that raced through my mind was worse than the last. The drive home quickly became a torture. The only solace came when I devised the method that would be the most efficient and the least painful....
"But somewhere along the road,God broke through the thick, viscous shroud that hung as a barrier to my inner being. Finally, that shield was penetrated ever so slightly, just enough for a small piece of self-realization and reason to break through. Suddenly, the impending danger to my life was hanging on the air as clear as a wild animal standing nearby; only I was the wild animal.
"I drove straight past my apartment complex and checked myself into the hospital about half a mile down the road. That decision saved my life.
"When I refused to go to the V.A. hospital, the doctor sent for a government representative, a psychiatrist, to evaluate me. The representative put me very much at ease, and instead of chastising me for 'wasting resources,' as I expected, he simply said: 'You're very strong! To have realized the danger you were in and then come here for help - that's not common.' I thank God for that moment of uncommon strength in the midst of despair....
"Not that long ago, I was not even trying to squeeze prayer in. Today, my prayers are constant and consistent. I am not free of my depression. Each day I wake and must force myself to think good thoughts and force the bad ones away, and it does not always work. But I am at peace. And that, I pray, is where I will remain."
Whenever our life seems a muddle, and we wonder where God is in it, because, perhaps, He seems silent, make your memories your prayer. Prayerfully resurrect your memories of the people who've entered your life over the years - as many as you can think of: family, friends, even strangers - who have been the instruments of God to bring order, sanity, and love back into your days and nights. Coming to your door. Calling you on the phone. Helping out in an emergency. Deacon Eddie Ensley (in his book "Everyday Mysticism") offers this lovely prayer experience in which we recognize God's Presence and the life-giving presence of these holy people:
"Let yourself grow still....Each time you breathe out, breathe out fear, tension, and anxiety. Each time you breathe in, breathe in God's Presence.
"Let God's merciful care surround you, calming you, assuring you, easing you....
"Imagine that you are standing in a large meadow, holding an unlit candle. It's nighttime, and there is a clear sky bursting with stars; a half moon lights up the sky....
"Next to you stands Jesus; you can see the light of his peace surrounding him. He tells you to take a moment and turn your senses inward, sensing physical or emotional pain. He tells you to talk to him about that pain.
"Empty your heart out before him.
"He puts a hand on your head and peace flows from the top of your head, through your torso, arms and legs and feet, until you are thoroughly infused from head to toe with the peace of Jesus.
"You look to your other side and behind you, and you see a crowd of people, the people who have helped, taught and loved you well through your life. Each one holds a lighted candle. The person to your left smiles and lights your candle. Together you see the lighted faces of each person. The light grows larger and brighter than mere candle light. An orb of light now encircles all of you, joining with the holy light that surrounds Jesus. You all lock arms and stand in awe of the majestic presence that is God.
"Stand there as long as you wish."
Scripture reminds us
"In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death
and to guide our feet into the way of peace."
Jesus is the Dawn from on high that breaks upon us. Every day, through our prayer, through the intervention of sacred others, Jesus guides our feet out of darkness and the shadow of death, ushering us into the way of peace.
Every day.