Today has been a rough day. I got a phone call from my best friend this afternoon regarding his mother's bout with Cancer. She has been battling for the better part of a year and up until now it appeared she was on the right track. I should step back for a moment. I have learned that not many people are still as close to their earliest friends in life as we are, my childhood has been split pretty evenly between my house and his house down the block meaning that his mother is essentially my second mother. So the news that her Cancer is spreading into her liver and lungs is even tougher to hear...
I don't want to make this into one of those divine intervention stories but it may turn into that regardless (so be ready just in case) but I was sitting in my room after baseball practice feeling pretty tore up about the whole ordeal when I heard the bells ringing at the Abbey indicating that 5:00 mass was about to start. It's not unusual that I decided to go but today I actually had a lot of praying to do so I put some decent clothes on and went. Fr. Edwin (Any 2010 Johnnies know him as the guest speaker at our graduation) was the celebrant and today's reading was the story of Noah's Ark. I usually stay attentive to the reading just long enough to hear which one it is and then drift back into my own thoughts because A: sometimes it's hard to pay attention during mass and B: I know the stories pretty well. Anyway, my thoughts roamed during the gospel mostly to times spent with my best friend when his mom would make us snacks, take us to the park, that kind of stuff. But when it was time for Fr. Ed to give his homily I straightened up and gave him full attention. He is the kind of guy that when he talks, it's because he has something important to say. He doesn't dance around issues he gets to the point and drives it home. Today was no different.
In his sermon he put a new spin on the Ark story by relating it to the Abbey in Newark, I never realized that that is what the city is named for (New Ark) but suddenly it clicked. Fr. Ed talked about how Noah was given clear instructions on how big the ark was to be, what kind of wood to use, how many levels to make it, what kinds of animals to bring, even where to put the door. But Fr. Ed brought something new to the table that had never occurred to me. God gave no instruction how Noah was supposed to move that ark. He never mentioned to make an oar or to bring a sail. he just said to build this boat and God told him everything but how to steer that thing. That'd be a pretty big detail for me if I was Noah. But Noah trusted that God would guide him and his family through the raging waters of the great flood. The whole world was coming down around the ark, yet it was built to last and it somehow managed to make it through the storm of a lifetime unscathed.
Now I imagine my friend is in the middle of a pretty huge storm right now while I'm more worried about how I can be there for him while I'm still 1,000 miles away in NJ. I've never felt more helpless because all I can do is pray. I feel a bit like I'm in the middle of my own flood right now and all I can do is hope and pray that I'll be able to make it through the troubled waters in order to be the best friend I can be.
It's weird that scriptures written thousands of years ago can seem to say exactly what we are feeling today. I suppose they were written that way and hope this doesn't sound like one of those "God's voice called out to me" stories because God calls out to each of us everyday. That's nothing new. It's just that today I actually listened because today I needed to hear that He (that's not meant to be sexist I'm just old fashioned) is still there.
So essentially the point of my whole story is that it's been a rough day. If you didn't get that by the title don't worry because I'm making it clear now. It's a good thing it isn't raining..
Take care everyone,
p.s. If you need me I'll be out trying to build a boat.
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