There are countless ways in which the word of God manifests itself in our daily lives. I have no doubt God tries to get our attention on a regular basis if we only stop and listen.
It is easy at every Mass to look at an elevated host and hear the Lord say, “This is my body.” But it is in the ordinary when the extraordinary falls on our heads like an anvil in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. One such “anvil” dropped on my head came from the back seat of a 1997 Toyota Camry.
A little backstory may be helpful.
My grandson and I have a standing date every Saturday when I drive him to his swimming lessons. On the quick drive to the pool, he likes to listen to a local radio station that talks about pets.
It is not all that innocent, as I am convinced he has an ulterior motive for trying to break down my resistance to us getting a new dog. He has even asked me if we could call into the station because he has a question about whether dog and cat hearts are similar. My grandson has a LOT of questions. Not being a trained veterinarian, I suggested the hearts of felines and canines are similar and also different in the hope I could keep myself from being on hold by a local radio station. My grandson is on to me, and I can see his brain working to come up with another “question” that will keep the dog in our conversation.
People usually call this show because they have a behavioral issue with a cat or a dog or a ball python, and the host, some kind of certified animal therapist, tries to help them. This Saturday the show took a metaphysical turn, one I was not expecting, but one to which I would discover that my 6-year-old grandson was listening intently and ready to respond.
A caller came on the air. He was obviously upset, as the tremble in his voice betrayed. We learned he had just lost his beloved pet cat after 16 years. The host was very sympathetic and comforting. The caller asked the host if he was religious. The host dodged the question, but before he could answer the caller asked him: if he prayed for his dead cat, would the cat hear the prayer?
I shot a glance in my rearview mirror. I could see my grandson listening closely and I expected to have to give some kind of dissertation on doggie or kitty heaven.
Finally, the host chimed in. You could tell he was not particularly comfortable with the topic, but told his caller that although he was not personally a religious person, he had a lot of experience with different religious traditions, clarifying he knew of many good people who were Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish. He then said something to the effect that regardless of whatever god you pray to, I think your cat does probably hear your prayers.
I thought again, I was surely going to get a doggy and kitty heaven question. But God had other plans. I looked in the rearview mirror again, saw that look in my grandson’s eyes, and knew something was coming. Then he said, “Appa (that’s my superhero name), that man is wrong. There’s only one God.”
If my brakes were any good I would have slammed my foot down on the pedal. I could almost feel that Bugs Bunny anvil pinging off my head from the back seat of my car. In the next instant I was filled with an immediate feeling of unsolicited and unearned grace from hearing this little boy, with no malice in his heart, make the perfectly simple and perfectly correct claim for Jesus.
These things do not just happen to me. They have been happening to people every day all over the world. Sometimes it is dramatic — like getting knocked off your donkey on the road to Damascus. But most times it comes from the mouth of a child or a simple act of kindness and faith from a stranger.
They ran another one of those “Jesus Gets Us” ads during the Super Bowl. I never cared for my faith brought to you by Madison Avenue marketing wonks. But in that back seat of my car on a simple drive to a swimming lesson, for a moment trapped in time forever, I saw that my grandson gets Jesus. May it always be so, I pray.
