A Funny Thing Happened to Me…

Back in the sixties, Broadway and the silver screen presented a production called “A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forum” that tells the story of a slave named Pseudolus who attempts to win his freedom from his master and it is set in Rome.

My life is not a Broadway musical or a movie, but on “the way to Rome” I have had some interesting, even funny things happen to me. Back in July I went to confession armed with a brand new confession app on my phone. I carefully made a list on the app of what I needed to confess. Just as I was ready to make my confession, I hit the wrong button and the app logged me off. I got flustered and got off to a shaky start as I couldn’t remember the phrase “examination of conscience.” I even forgot some of the things I wanted to confess. The moral of that story is don’t trust technology to think for you as you seek to improve upon an age-old sacrament.

I found a prayer I prayed back in August as the World Meeting of Families in Dublin was set to begin. I was concerned as were many Catholics of some of what was going to be presented there regarding the family. I prayed: “Lord, bless all speakers who intend to glorify you, uphold Sacred Scripture and Tradition, edify your true Church and seek the salvation of souls. For those who have other intentions, give them laryngitis, severe diarrhea, or make them otherwise indisposed. Amen.” That’s one I had to trust God with. He knows much better than I.

In September I began reading the book Sacred Story: An Ignatian Examen For The Third Millennium and I came across this phrase: “My Sacred Story takes a lifetime to write.” The author goes on to say:

It is a cliché to say that life is not over till it is over. I doubt anyone would disagree with this fact. Yet often ignored is the fact that we have to work daily on our spiritual growth. Or more precisely, we must work daily to open to the artist who can transform our lives into a sacred story….Christ can take our lives, daily undermined by the weight of bad decisions, selfishness, and our own sin and weakness, and transform all of it into blessing. God, in Jesus, is the artist and it will take a complete lifetime for the Lord to work his miracles of grace in our sacred story. We will always be in need of the merciful forgiveness of the Divine Artist in Jesus. Once we see that Jesus needs to work daily in our lives, we then come to understand why “my Sacred Story takes a lifetime to write.”

Your story and my story are by no means set in stone. There are constant changes and additions to our stories. We are on our way, and many interesting, serious, and even funny things happen on our way to where God is leading. Stay encouraged and never give up.