Do you believe in divine serendipity? Yes, 100%. I believe coincidence is God’s way of working miracles anonymously. A serendipitous story from this past week….
During my morning prayer, church pal Dave Zande texted me two pages from a book by Fr. William Barry, SJ that advised that we be direct in our petitions to God; clear in exactly what we desire. So, I prayed “I wish to experience God’s presence and for confirmation that we are on the right path in continuing to expand our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) style of faith formation.” I’ll be honest, this desire was born out of a weariness felt from the extensive preparation that this program demands and my concern that our dedicated staff was feeling a bit stretched like me…and then off to another 12-hour work day I went.
This particular morning we were holding a meeting for our summer catechists. I was slated to lead the opening meditation and then Karen & Michele, our Elementary coordinators, were to take over from there. One of our catechists, Maria, arrived with her three children, but unawares to me, our childcare provider couldn’t make it.
After I led the opening meditation, I received an urgent phone call (serendipitously timed), so I stepped out into the hall and I noticed Maria’s three children excitedly tearing up Atrium One - not unusual behavior for children experiencing our atrium for the first time – they are so curious they want to pull everything out and explore!
After my phone call, I walked into the atrium and asked Nicole (age 4) Sergio (age 7) and Madison (age 9) if they had ever been in this room before? They all answered “No.” I asked “Would you like to learn how this room works?” They all responded “Yes.” I invited them to “restore the room” (aka, Montessori language for cleaning up) so that all the materials we needed could be found in their proper place. Then I asked each child what they were most curious about...
Sergio was all about the maps, Madison chose the Good Shepherd (THE central parable of the whole program – the oldest immediately recognized the essentials!) and sweet little Nicole wanted to hear about the Precious Pearl (a personal favorite). I had no trouble locating these lessons because this kind of serendipity is EXACTLY what our CGS training prepares us for; responding in the moment to the child’s deepest spiritual question and curiosity.
So, while Michele & Karen finished up the meeting, I led the children through these 3 lessons and they were nothing short of luminous with joy, sad when it was time to leave and asked with great eagerness when they could return. Maria Montessori said “joy is the indicator of interior spiritual growth, just as an increase in weight and physical strength is the indication of bodily growth.” (visit https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/06/29/montessori-schools-are-exceptionally-successful-so-why-arent-there-more).
Now, I swear to you, I am still a skeptic! I am still blown over with wonder and amazement every time I witness this level of enthusiasm for our program - especially from my own children. Frankly, my family can get a little “Jesused-out” sometimes with all the time we spend at church with my work – but my 8-year-old jumps out of bed for our summer program AND my 13-year-old wants to take the 90 HOURS of Level One CGS certification training! I can’t help but find this downright WEIRD!
So yes, I do believe in divine serendipity, because what I heard God say to me that morning IN THE CHILDREN’S JOY was “Is that enough presence and confirmation for you?!?!?” My response was "Yes Lord. Thank you for answering my prayer. You may now cancel the sky-writer!" Hee hee
To achieve our vision for our Faith Formation program for all 500 of our CTR kiddos, we need approximately 40-50 trained catechists. We now have 7. Are you being called? I wish with everything I am that I would have discovered CGS when my oldest was 3 years old. Consider it. Some scholarships available. One Saturday a month beginning Sept. 8. Visit www.ctrdeemer.org to register.
Send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at: www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.
