Life is strange. It is a stranger as well. It is a stranger much more
than any foreigner. Yes, it is a stranger beyond the grasp of any human mind. In
life we expect things to happen the way want it to happen. We set criteria for
things to emerge according to our own convenience and taste. Of course if we
are fortunate things might turn out to be the way we expect. But in reality it
may not be. It is ever possible that our life may turn out to be something totally
strange, unexpected and unimaginable. Moreover,
the beauty of life lies in that strangeness. It is the strangeness of life that
opens up million possibilities for us to explore something that is new,
unexpected and unimaginable.
For instance, we might have our
vision for life and we would want it to be achieved by all costs. But the fact
is that we do not have control over our life. For this reason we need to be
open to the callings of Life. However, life’s callings are not explicit so how
are we to discern to the subtle callings of Life? Nevertheless they beckon us
through the concrete life experiences we face in a strange fashion. I believe
all of us, sometimes or the other might have come in contact with an incident
or reality in life that appeared to be strange and disturbing. It is often in
such awkward situations that the unexpected seed of Life’s calling is planted.
I would narrate a short incident that might in some way throw some light into
the whole process of discerning the life’s calling.
It all happened in a particular Sunday afternoon when the sky above the
head was blue and the ground below the feet was thirsting for rain, an expected
missionary seed of love and care was planted in a heart that never expected.
The brother in his busyness happened to visit the Church but behold he noticed
a youngster happened to be Hindu crying and sobbing unceasingly. Looking at the
strange pouring of tears the brother felt deep within himself a kind of
irresistible call to attend to the needs of that guy. Due to language barrier,
the brother hesitatingly approached the guy and inquired for the cause of his grief.
The guy in tears and deep sorrow narrated that he was in love with a girl and that
they had mutually agreed to marry. However, girl’s parents were not happy with
his status and so they were putting many obstructions to their marriage. To cut
the story short, finally the guy made the brother sing for him thrice the song
“We Shall Over Come,” and also
requested for the prayer to be made for him. In all humility and patience the
brother sung the song and invited him to pray together. At the end the guy felt
strange serene deep within that he passionately embraced the brother and
thanked for being there for him when he felt that his world was shattering into
pieces. The youngster made frequent visits after that and finally one day came
with his fiancé carrying in his face such a broad smile that words cannot
describe.
The above incident tell us that often in life we come in contact with an unexpected
experience which invariable changes our entire vision of life. The incident
also recommends that we can be missionaries anywhere for we will always find
people in need of missionary act. Just as the brother performed the missionary
act so also each one of us can do the missionary act by being available to
people in need, not only during our convenient time but all the time. Saving
someone’s life is much worth and it demands of us to go beyond rules. So, let us live a missionary’s life wherever
we are.
Romanius
Barwa
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