By Barb Arland-Fye
Editor
A phone call interrupted my hectic efforts to get out the door and head to the office. The voice of the caller, my dad, shook with emotion. An ambulance had taken my mom to the hospital. Time froze and the demands of the day ahead no longer mattered. I remember that phone call as if it happened last week, but it took place years ago. My mom survived the health crisis, for which I gave thanks to God.
This experience comes to mind again, after my mom called last week and the tone of her voice ended my preoccupation with work, family, and the incessant news about calamities in our world. This time, my dad was experiencing a health crisis. Doctors are still trying to assess the situation but both my mom and dad sound hopeful because they know experts will get the answers they need to move on. My parents place their trust and prayers in God’s hands, setting an example for me. Trust in God requires more than my lip service; I need to live as if I trust God completely.
We seem to be living in anxiety-producing times, where the goalposts keep getting moved. I want to respond proactively to one challenge but another one crops up to divert my attention from the first challenge and causes me to lose focus on trusting in God.
Prayer, liturgy, music and inspiration from faith leaders who walk the talk place me back on course. Earlier this month, I found inspiration in the acceptance speech of Bishop Silvio Jose Báez Ortega, OCD, who received the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award during a ceremony at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. He has dedicated his life to advocating on behalf of human rights and democracy in his beloved homeland, Nicaragua. That advocacy led to his exile; he now lives in the United States.
This particular passage from Bishop Báez’s speech reassures me of God’s love and presence: “The saving power of Jesus sustains me every day and drives me, even amid the shadows, to walk in the light of the Gospel of Christ mediated and contemplated in the silence of prayer. Through prayer and union with Christ, I find the strength and wisdom to be his witness amidst the darkness that envelops my country.”
God sends messages of his abiding presence in the prayers I read in the Liturgy of the Hours and in certain hymns that we sing during Mass. Psalm 42 and Psalm 19A, which we pray during Morning Prayer for Monday Week II, speak to me especially:
- … “Why are you cast down my soul, why groan within me? Hope in God; I will praise him still, my savior and my God …” (Psalm 42).
- … “The heavens proclaim the glory of God and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands. Day unto day takes up the story and night unto night makes known the message …” (Psalm 19A).
Composer Sarah Hart’s “You are the Light,” fills my heart with reassurance when we sing this hymn during Mass. “You are the light that stands alone/ in depth of night and eye of storm. Where shadows fall, you enter in; ignite with hope what dark has dimmed …” (verse 1).
God sends me reminders that it should not take a loved one’s health crisis to trust that God is with me, always. I need to pay attention.
(Contact Barb Arland-Fye at arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org)
