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This season of spring and the month of May makes it easier for me to smile and be in a better mood! I suppose this is less true for those who suffer from allergies or must cut a lot of grass. But for most, the growing daylight, the warmer temperatures, and the approach of summer with its promise of leisure and relaxation lift the minds and hearts of all. Not to be outdone, the Church chooses this time to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection and partnered with that comes confirmations, first communions, baptisms, and weddings. Last but not least, this is the season for graduations from grade school, high school, and college.
Speaking of that, here is a crazy stat you may not know. Only about 46% of college graduates, less than half, work in a field closely related to their major. Think of all the work, all the studying, all the tuition, time, and sacrifice which is then seemingly put aside! What is the reason for so many students who focus on one thing intensely, then end up going another direction, sometimes drastically so? There has been lots of ink spilled on the topic, about the possibility of refining the way students choose their major and giving them more support in making their decision. Others argue that too many people go to college when they should be entering the trades, and still more maintain that employers must stop demanding degrees for jobs that don’t really require them.
There is some truth in all these explanations but I think the main cause is even more simple but perhaps less satisfying: this is life! Life happens and so often, along with the changes it brings, our best plans and ideas go out the window. Don’t get me wrong, it is good to have a plan but we need to know that sooner or later, something is going to happen which will require our plan and us, to change, to adapt, to grow, so we can meet the challenge and work through it. Mike Tyson famously said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Great leaders aren’t the ones who come up with a plan or strategy that never changes, they are the ones who can decisively adapt once the original plan starts to fall apart and fail.
As I celebrate 15 years of being a priest, very little of what I have actually done and experienced is what I had planned. Of course, saying Mass, hearing confessions, celebrating the other sacraments and ministering to people, that has all played out as I hoped it would. But the places I have been assigned, the people I have served, and at times the ways I have been asked to minister, wow, I never would have drawn it up this way! And I thank God for the many twists and turns, the ups and the downs, the surprises and disappointments. Because in all of them, He has taught me more than any plan or life I could create for myself. Being a friend of God requires me and all of us to be flexible and ok with change. Growing in faith is not accounting for every possible outcome or controlling every part of our lives. Instead, living faith is often nothing more than doing our best to be prepared and ready in a prayerful way for whatever God calls us to do on any and every given day!
We see this in our Scriptures today. In the Acts of the Apostles, the young church is growing by leaps and bounds and has increasing needs that must be met. Some of the widows are not receiving their portion of bread and are going hungry. People raise this concern to the apostles and they take it to prayer to find a solution. The answer they are given is to select seven holy men who will be in charge of the distribution of bread and other works of mercy so that no one is neglected. These seven men are the first deacons of our Church and they become the hands and hearts of the twelve apostles, enabling them to help more people while still allowing the twelve to remain in their ministry of prayer and teaching. Growth and change go hand in hand! The Apostles wisely discern that the way they were doing things was no longer sufficient, a change of plans is needed to stay on mission and faithful to what God wanted. To simply say, “this is how we’ve always done things!” or “I’ve made a decision and that’s the end of the discussion!” was not the right way to proceed.
Even after this creation of the diaconate, things would change further for some of the deacons involved. Stephen was essentially put in charge of the first food pantry but he would end up dying as a martyr. Many of them were trained for the work they were asked to do. But their docility and holy flexibility allowed God to use them where they were needed most and the Church grew even more!
That’s the key to the incredible growth of the young Church; they don’t try to control God or make his plans, they defer to God and let him lead even when it seems crazy. God knows better than us but he still wants us to be part of his process. So often we hijack God’s plans and end up making things messy. Like St. Peter says in the 2nd reading, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”. How often has God used the people, the stones, that we and world have cast aside as the building blocks of his Church, his salvation, and his blessings to the world.
In the gospel, Jesus has just washed the feet of the Apostles and he has turned their world upside down by telling them that in order to reign, they must serve. He has made it clear that he must save the world by dying for it and that where he is going, they know the way. This is all a bit too much for poor Phillip and he asks how they will know the way since they don’t know where Jesus is going. Jesus responds with that beautiful line, meant not only for Phillip but also for us, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” In other words, I am the plan, I am the way out, the path forward, the light in the darkness, the calm in the midst of your storm.
For you and me, who have many great plans which so often fall apart when life punches us in the mouth, Jesus simply says, look at me. I will get you through, I will show you the next step, I have the answers.
With this in mind, let’s try to turn our eyes to Jesus more often. Especially before a big decision, in moments of confusion, and when we don’t know what comes next. Let’s make our prayer like that of the early church and let God lead rather than trying to bend God to what we want, which never turns out well. Let’s make sure that we are involving God in all our plans and always giving him the final say. Finally, let’s never forget that God always knows best and he will always choose the greatest good for us because he is the way, the truth, and the life!
