Pastor's Points: Entertaining Angels and Encountering the Divine

Entertaining Angels and Encountering the Divine

One of the great Catholic speakers on the national scene today is Katie Prejean McGrady.  Katie is a friend of St. Thomas More. She has spoken at one of our Confirmation retreats, and our Youth Ministry leadership team has regular contact with her at national events and through ongoing conversations about the current trends in youth ministry in the country.  Katie is a noted author and was one of three delegates from the USA chosen by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for a pre-synod gathering in Rome in March. This was in preparation for the October synod on youth people, the faith and vocational discernment. 

I follow Katie on social media and came across a post recently that really stuck with me.  I wanted to share it with you.
 
I woke up Thursday morning at 5 AM to get ready to leave for my 6:45 AM flight. I didn't have time to both shower & have breakfast (shower won), so I arrived at the airport both utterly exhausted & hungry. Like, stomach growling, head pounding from the 2 glasses of wine the night before, exhausted.
 
I got my boarding passes at the check-in counter, went to the TSA pre-check line, handed the officer my ID, and calculated if I had enough time to grab a bagel & coffee before we boarded the plane.
 
I had 15 minutes. Plenty of time.
 
I placed my stuff up on the scanner for Pre-Check. It's supposed to be quick. No laptops have to come out of bags, no shoes off...But the guy in front of me was moving slowly. Painfully slowly. Like "have you ever been through a pre-check line before, dude, get a move on" slow.
 
I've got maybe 12 minutes left to get my bagel. I can still make it.
 
But this guy is just sanding there, clinging to this black bag with a funeral home logo. He won't place it on the conveyor belt to go through the machine. He's just staring down into it. And I notice that he's been crying.
 
He finally sets the bag into a tray, pushes it up to the machine, and slowly walks through the metal detector. He never takes his eyes off that machine. He stares at it the whole time he's walking. And he looks like he's on the verge of tears.
 
My stuff finally goes through the x-ray, and I walk through the metal detector.
 
10 minutes before boarding. Enough time to get a pre-packaged muffin, maybe.
 
I wait anxiously for my backpack and suitcase to emerge from the machine and a TSA agent calls out, "Sir, are these human remains?"
 
The guy nods his head slowly, tears welling up in his eyes.
 
"I have to scan them again, sir. We have to remove the urn from this bag. Is that okay?"
 
The guy nods again, and whispers softly, "Just please be careful with her..."
 
And at this point, he begins to cry, and my heart breaks.
 
My bags are just out of reach in the machine, but the scanning process has stopped to handle this urn.
 
I'm stuck. I won't get breakfast. And this man is crying in front of me...his mother or sister or aunt or family friend...someone he loves has died and he has their cremated remains.
 
I calculate how much time I have. Not enough time to get a bagel or muffin or coffee. But enough time to comfort a fellow human being who is watching an urn filled with a loved one's ashes go through a TSA checkpoint x-ray machine for a second time.
 
I step forward and say, "Sir, please tell me to just shove off if this is out of line...but would you like to pray right now?"
 
I feel like I should pause at this point and say: I NEVER do this. I am not that bold. I am not that confident. I get to talk about Jesus for a living, sure, but I don't do this. Ever.
 
He look sat me, those tears still there in his eyes. He looked sad. Weary. Worn Down.
 
And he whispered "yes"
 
I reached out, gently touched his elbow, and quietly prayed aloud with him.
 
It wasn't a particularly profound or beautiful prayer. Just simple. Clear. Brief.
 
We were both crying.
 
The whole TSA line stopped at this point. Total stop. Even the non pre-check line. The TSA agents stood there looking at us, a mixture of shock and awe on their faces. One walked over to us carrying the urn, placing it back in the bag, waiting to hand it to the guy when we finished.
 
When we lifted our heads and looked at each other once again, a smile broke across his weary face.
 
"Amen," he said. "And thank you."
 
We stood silently for a second, just sort of holding onto one another. I had 3 minutes to get to my gate before boarding, but I didn't want to move.
 
The agent working the TSA full body scanner, who watched the whole thing, broke the silence.
 
"Wheweeeee, sister, we're having church up in here this morning!"
 
We all laughed, and it broke the stillness.
 
He grabbed his bag with the urn, looked back at me, smiled, and walked off.
 
It was a brief moment. Quick. Fleeting. But yet, so slow and powerful and significant.
 
The Spirit fell down upon that TSA pre-check line when I saw that grieving man, and in a move totally out of character with my very hermit-like-traveling-self, I knew I needed to pray with him.
 
I don't know his name. I don't know where he was going. He wasn't on my flight that I literally boarded a minute later. But, he's been on my mind.
 
I prayed with him for comfort and peace and calm. And he let me. And that gave me a comfort, peace, and calm I've never felt before.
 
When we pull our heads out of our phones, pay attention to the people around us, and notice the grief covering a person's face: those are the moments Jesus asks us to be present, to be faithful, to be his hands and feet in a world hurting, alone, afraid, and in need of His love.
 
We entertain angels unaware, sometimes. We encounter the sacred and divine in the most unexpected of places: like a TSA pre-check line in a small airport when all you're thinking about is a bagel and coffee.
 
Katie is right. We do entertain angels and encounter the sacred and the divine in places we never thought God would show up. This is why we always have to be alert for how God is trying to speak to us. The world we live in is fast paced. We are rushing from place to place. However, in the midst of all that hustle and bustle, God is still speaking to us. God is desperately trying to break through into our lives. It might be because we need to hear God or someone else needs to hear God through us. Don’t miss those chances to discover God in your midst this month.
 
You can learn more about Katie at: https://katieprejean.com/