Encountering God In Daily Life

Jamey Brown

New York City can be a daunting place for a Catholic, or anyone who wants to live a religious or moral life. While it is a most materialistic and secular city, I have managed to find inspiration and people who share my love for God. They are rare and very precious to me. Some I found in obvious places such as my church, and some through my cab-driving; my interface with the world. Either way, it is in the unexpected that I find small blessings.

Feed The Hungry

Take for example, when I think to give to the poor I think of money, or used items that are no longer needed. However, one day I met a passenger whose full-time job is finding and distributing food for the poor.

One day a City Harvest Manager hailed my cab. City Harvest collects food from restaurants, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers and farms. The food is then delivered free of charge to over 500 community food programs throughout New York City. This man was so excited to tell me about his job. What joy to hear someone that actually enjoys what they do every day.

Recently, he went to Chobani Yogurt and discovered that when the machines mistakenly put the fruit on the top, instead of the bottom, they just throw it away. He told the Chobani company to save it for him, and he would send his staff to pick it up every week. I have never seen anyone so ecstatic about his job, and the opportunity he is given to help others.

Be Not Afraid

When I think of an another example of someone helping others, I look to a young man in my Bible Study class who suffers from autism. During prayer requests, he asks us to pray for the kids in his school, so that they don’t make fun of him. He seems to have a keen awareness of suffering, because he also offers up prayers for those that we sometimes overlook: the persecuted in Africa and elsewhere; the victims of disasters and the homeless. We all call him a Prayer Warrior.

Despite his disabilities and fears, he still volunteers as an altar server in the Diocese. Any time a parish needs an altar server at a Spanish Mass, they call him. He deals with fear every day. So, what excuse can I have, if I fear making mistakes or people making fun of me? How many times does our Lord say in the Gospels, “Be not afraid?”

Spread the Good News

When I am hesitant to talk about Jesus or God or the Catholic Church in my daily rounds, I am emboldened by the example of a fellow-cabbie who quotes Scripture around the garage. He sometimes gets into good-natured debates with Muslims, or others, and quickly draws me into the conversation, which is a good thing. He and I disagree on a number of issues, such as the need to go to a church, or to confess your sins to a priest, or to say any prayer except The Lord’s Prayer. He keeps me hopping answering his objections to things and when I get stumped I Google Catholic Answers or the Bible on the spot, or search the The Catechism of the Catholic Church when I get home. He challenges me to dig deeper in professing my faith.

Before he came to the garage, no one prayed publically. This man has led some of us in prayer twice (The Our Father, of course). I am learning again and again to see the positive qualities in a person, while using my faith as a living testimony of the Catholic Church.

Care For the Sick and Dying

If I get caught up in just getting through the workday and collecting my pay without remembering what I am called to do, I recall a nurse from my Bible Study group who works with the terminally ill. I asked her if she talks about God to her patients. She told me that she often tells them that the Lord loves them, and is always with them to comfort them, and lead them to heaven when their time comes. What a blessing to have someone like her to be with you at this most defining moment in your life.

However, I also realize that it’s not just the terminally ill that we should treat this way. Father C. John McCloskey says that every person we encounter, the mailman, the clerk, our neighbor is an encounter with the immortal and the eternal. They all have an immortal soul, and our conduct with them will endure for all eternity. His words reminds me to help and comfort everyone I meet, and if they have an illness or injury or other problem to tell them that I’ll pray for them.

Small Soft Voice

If I feel dissatisfied or frustrated with my life, that my contributions are too small and I haven’t accomplished much, I think about the choir at The Church of the Holy Innocents. They sing the Gregorian Chant and Polyphony at the seven weekly Latin Masses and Sunday Vespers. I shouldn’t use the word “sing,” it sounds more like they are praying the sacred hymns; their voices are so pure and soft and reverent. Once at Vespers, I counted just twenty-five parishioners, but the choir was just as sublime as if there had been a hundred parishioners. I am sure they would be if there was only one person there or none. They bring a tear to my eye and convert me every time I hear them. (We are called to be daily converted) I hope they have the same effect on others. They are not performing before TV cameras, or to an audience of thousands, but they strive for  perfection and they have a profound effect on those that hear them. They bring to mind the times that I have thought that just a little email to lift the spirits of a friend in despair might be the most important thing I have ever written; or a smile to a stranger could turn their whole day around.

Tithing

Lastly, I want to share a subject I have seldom thought about until this week: tithing. Another cabbie that works with me, who happens to be a faithful Catholic, that attends Mass daily, just told me that whatever he makes each night he gives 10% to the church the next day. My jaw dropped. He had already motivated me to go to church more often during the week, and now I’m pondering if he came here all the way from Guatemala to also inspire me to give more than just of myself?

From a Child’s Lips

One day, while in the Adoration Chapel, I was inspired by a chance encounter. I overhead a conversation between a teenage girl who was explaining the Tabernacle to two five-year-old girls in immaculate white dresses, (Her niece and her friend): “That’s Jesus in there, in that gold thingy. You know when I took Communion, when I ate that white thing, that was the bread. And just before that, when the priest blessed the bread, it was like a miracle and the bread became Jesus, and that bread, that is Jesus in there.” The two young girls looked at the teenage girl with wide-eyed wonder. At that moment, I reflected on the persecution of the Christians in the Middle East and the small number of active Catholics in much of the world,and that the Church has always gone through cycles of decay and renewal. I thought how amazing that this is exactly how the Catholic Church has been passed down from generation to generation for over 2000 years; simply explained by word of mouth. Hopefully, those same two little girls wlll share their same discovery to the next generation.

The people who inspire us most are the ones we least expect. They are walking among us. They will always be there, if we care to look and listen.

Look for them in the common things. You might be surprised. G.K. Chesterton said that in every little thing on earth there is a type of the eternal. All are different manifestations of God. Every person, too.

World without end. Amen.

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7 thoughts on “Encountering God In Daily Life”

  1. Pingback: Pastoral Sharings: "26th Sunday in Ordinary Time" | St. John

  2. Jamey-Thank you thank you. Your writing reminds me of the guy on the shore amidst hundreds of starfish that had been driven up on the beach by the waves and the guy is picking them up one by one and throwing each one into the water. Each starfish is valuable to him. Another guy comes up and says “There are so many you really can’t make a difference.” The first guy calmly picks up another star fish, throws it into the water, and says “It made a difference to that one.” Your writing does this for me. You are the NYC starfish thrower. Muchas gracias. Guy McClung, San Antonio

  3. Catholic & loving it

    Jamey, your blog inspires me, here in Oklahoma. Never been to NY but glad to hear that the Light of Christ shines in NYC through small graces & several persons. God is good, & the Risen Christ is King. What other reason do I need to be overflowing with joy in life?

  4. Pingback: How Pope Francis Personally Picked Cupich - BigPulpit.com

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