Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Siam Terrace at night
A light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
We sat, the three of us, at a four-top near the front window and the door. It was a little chilly there, so I kept my coat on. I was exhausted. Long day’s journey into night, with hiccups on top of a cough, sore red eyes and a dripping, stuffed up nose. Ugh. Ugly. But Marc and his friend were happy to be here, and I was happy to be with them.
Tonight a winter snow storm is forecast for central Illinois. I have been on the verge of sick all day, and tomorrow I have a day off, and I hope to sleep and sleep and sleep. Marc would like to drive to Evansville to see Grandma Dot, who is in the hospital. His friend is taking welding classes, and going to class tomorrow. I’m the lazy one, but I’m also the sick one.
The men who were traveling with Saul stood speechless. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he could not see, and he neither ate nor drank.
Those guys were so friendly to me. They held open the car door and closed it after I got in. They paid for my meal. I thought chicken soup would be good: spicy coconut milk, mushrooms, green onion, galangal and chicken in a “steam pot” that a burner underneath kept hot. It was good. What else would I order if I have a cold?
Marc’s buddy just dropped off his daughter at her mom’s. The two of them share the love with their 2-year-old, and they also share the work. Maybe they will get back together and raise their child together sometime soon. That would be best for everybody, if that happens. They just need to learn to listen more than they talk, which is easier to say than to do.
“I spent the first six years of my life in Zaire,” he said. “And I have traveled the world, dipping into religions and cultures very different from what we have in Champaign, Illinois.” But he goes to Holy Cross’ mass every Sunday. During a demolition job at the UIUC library, he found a green Gideon New Testament hiding among the broken concrete blocks. He has been reading it.
Ananias entered the house where Saul was. He laid his hands on him and spoke. “Jesus has sent me, the one who appeared to you on your way, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.
You can’t always get what you want. At the restaurant we talked about the beauty and value of silence between people, the skill of listening longer than you ever thought you could. Listening to your daughter’s mom, listening to the sound of your own breathing, listening to God. You may not have what you want, but you do have something very special, and no one can take it away.
Steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever.
(Acts 22, Acts 9, Psalm 117, John 15)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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