Tuesday,
February 23, 2016
At 6:35 this
morning I found myself at the medical center attempting to return a test
device. The elevator would not work so I took the stairs, gasping for breath all
the way to the fourth floor. The door was locked. I knocked with conviction,
but no one answered. I rested, then
returned to the ground floor grudgingly limping towards the hospital lobby and main
elevators. A security guard greeted me, and said something about the box I was
holding, but I was too irritated to smile. I gruffly asked if these elevators worked. He said yes and
that the other elevators are for employees. “They could have told us!” I
grumbled. He shrugged and tried to make a joke. “It’s not funny,” I snarled, “I
have to get to work.” I took an elevator to the fourth floor, returned the
device, and went to the elevators nearest me determined that one would take me
to the ground level. It did.
The morning sky
was spectacular-all pinks, oranges and lavenders. I rounded a corner putting
the sunrise behind me. Straight ahead was the modest beauty of the full moon descending
upon the horizon. I was struck by the supernatural
way the sunlight illuminated the moon through the gauzy clouds. I gasped. The moon
was now transfigured and had become the raised Host over the mountain altar. “Lord,
it is good to be here.”
Of course, I
was ashamed at my crabby behavior at the medical center, not even an hour
before. I could not return and make amends, perhaps with a cup of coffee and a
doughnut. I had to catch the bus that takes me to my job. So I said a prayer for
the security guard and for myself. “Lord, wash away our iniquities; cleanse us
of our sins.”
Thank you, Lord
for the countless ways You show Yourself to us, especially through Your gift of
The Holy Eucharist.
