Inconvenience

Nov 12

Fr. Joe Newman, OSFS, with St. Francis de Sales School students.

My Junior class at St. Francis de Sales School had a simple request: “Teach us how to pray.” Since then, they’ve practically been writing all my homilies. With all my studies, classes, reflection,and spiritual direction, I still find my most privileged way of learning about God is from my students.

Recently, we practiced a version of Lectio Divina with the Healing of the Paralytic (Luke 5:18-25) where the paralytic reaches Jesus through the roof of a house. Jesus forgives his sins and heals him.

During our meditation, I invited the students to place themselves in the scene and imagine everything through the experience of one of the characters in the story. After a period of silence, I asked them who they had chosen and what they experienced.

“Who were you in the story?” I asked.

A student responded, “The owner of the house.”

I smiled, “And how was that?”

He paused, then said, “Even after the miracle, at the end of the day, I still had a hole in my roof.”

Going further, I asked: “Yes, I can see that too! What would you preach on if you were giving a homily?”

He looked back at me with one of those knowing smiles: “Miracles can be inconvenient.”

Like I said, everything I need to know about God, I learn from my students.

It doesn’t take much reflection to recognize the times when God’s action, love, or will have felt inconvenient for me. They didn’t fit my plan, my preparation, or my own will. I was left, in a sense, with a hole in the roof.

And yet, I think my student’s response is the right one - a knowing smile. Most of the time, I reflect on God’s work where it brings comfort or clarity. I often speak of the times when God’s grace makes me feel good. But the moments that transform me, that’s when grace arrives uninvited, disrupting the ordinary, and breaking through the roof.

Inconvenient… yes.

Grace-filled… absolutely!