I got a phone message this week from one of our parishioners, a longtime member who I had not yet met. The tone of the message was urgent so I returned the call right away.

My new friend used calm and steady words to describe the eye-opening experience so many of us have had when our vocabularies are forced to expand and include technical and medical jargon, especially words that have life-threatening connotations. After some time describing the severity of the affliction, the treatment and the prognosis my friend began to make the kinds of connections so many of us make when we face similar circumstances: How does this turn of events play out in the wider space of my life? How is God involved in all this? All of a sudden, the possessions, experiences, goals and plans that were all set and sound are not so firm and immovable. We are in a new place, a scary place, a painful place. But if everything happens for a reason, albeit, reasons we rarely know or understand, then what could God be up to here?

And as my friend so eloquently, wonderfully, and inspirationally described, she intends to use this challenge to move closer to the kind of place Jesus describes to us this in Sunday's reading -"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

Perhaps the biggest temptation you and I face in contemporary society is to simply allow life to pass before us, with all the tragic and happy colors of an Independence Day parade. And as life spins before us and through us and by us we are tempted to simply hold on, unable and unwilling to step back and let it all in. Serious health issues provide us with the kinds of opportunities many of us secretly crave, the chance to get off, step back, and look at our lives for what they are: Gifts from God, given us to enjoy, to share and to give away. And most of the people you and I have known who have gone through serious medical challenges would probably tell us that the opportunity it afforded them to re-think and renew turned out to be greater than they ever imagined, perhaps even life-saving.

Anthony DeMello has noted that pleasant experiences make life delightful, but they rarely, if ever, lead to growth. What leads to growth is painful experiences. Suffering points us toward areas where we have not yet grown, where we need to grow, and be transformed and changed. You and I have probably always suspected that if we knew how to use that suffering- boy, how we would grow.

Reading
Awareness - Anthony DeMello
Imitation of Christ - Thomas a Kempis
My Struggle with Faith - Joseph Girzone