Scars

Bickering siblings strategizing for best the seat in the car, while I’m securely strapping my preschooler in his booster seat, mom pushing us out the door as quickly as she possibly can, all for a one-mile ride to school and some quiet time for me at daily Mass. Let’s not forget the winter weather advisory followed by dangerously cold wind chills sweeping the area to begin this day.

After picking up one of my daughter's classmates, we headed off to school. Normally it would take five minutes to drop off the kids, but due to the six inches of snow and inclement weather, one mile took more like ten minutes. Safely dropping off my children at school, I proceeded to trample through the snow and finally step into the church. Taking my heavy jacket off and clearing the fog from my glasses, I sat down and began my daily prayer. After some peaceful contemplation, I decided to get a head start on the daily readings, only to realize that I don’t have my Bible? This is strangely ironic, giving that I carry my Bible almost everywhere I go. No big deal… I’m inside a church and I’m bound to find the Good Word somewhere.

Arriving home, after some real good Jesus time, I began to comb the house for my Bible. I could not figure out for the life of me where I laid down that book. It’s been a few days now without The Word. I turned my house upside down more than once and I'm growing restless… no Bible. It’s been weeks now and my memory is shot. A little prayer to St. Anthony and YES! I remember where my Bible was laid down? That cold snowy day, while getting my kids off to school, I placed my Bible on the trunk of my car when getting my son in his car seat. Somewhere along the way, the Good News fell off my car and into six inches of snow and possibly buried by the drifts.

Understanding my Bible could easily be replaced with another was not an option. I was completely devastated and lost. This was my Bible, the one with all the highlighter markings and notes, the one with lots of bookmarks and pictures of my family, the one I use when I give presentations, the one that I use to teach with, the one I was going to use at my profession into the OFS, this was my Bible and it was gone for good.

A wise man out of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel always and when necessary use words.”

Being a member of the Secular Franciscan Order, I figured the Gospel is in my heart and that’s where the Bible will speak most. Accepting my Bible will be gone forever became a reality. Don’t get me wrong! I have since replaced it with an identical one, and continue to use it.

A few months have gone by now and I continue to wait for a glimpse of spring during this Lenten season. We have had some pretty cold days, but signs of warmth are just days ahead. My oldest daughter had an orthodontics appointment in a small town 15 miles away and my wife started checking her in at the receptionist desk. The kind women behind the desk recognized my family and explained to my wife that she has a book that she believes belongs to me.

That night, my children told me some lady found my bible lying in the snow and wanted to return it to me. I was overly excited to hear this news, but yet frightened to see the damaged that had occurred. Is it even readable? I prepared for the worst.

A couple weeks later, after returning home from work, I saw my Bible on the kitchen table. Cautiously, I examined the damaged on the cover, opening the pages with care, eyeing all the scuffs and bends that went along with falling off my car. Remarkably, it looked in decent shape. Actually for the exception of some minor cover damaged the body of the book is in mint shape. It looks like a good used Bible with a backbone that has been broken in quite well. To my disbelief, all the bookmarks and pictures were protected and in perfect shape, but most of all, I am able to read the scripture with no kinds of defects.

So, I started thinking about how this story of my lost Bible could apply to my life and to the lives of others.

Many of us go through life with all kinds of stories. Stories of happiness, joy, pain, grieving, love, etc… Just like the Holy Scriptures, there are many stories of this same nature. Some of us go through life and get real banged up. We have many scars, whether they are physical or emotional, we all have scars from our life journey that make us who we are, and quite frankly that is O.K. Have you ever looked at someone and thought to yourself that maybe they have had a rough journey? I have, and you can’t judge a book by its cover. Just like my Bible, it may look little rough, banged up, scared around the edges or whatever choice of word you choose, but The Word was left untouched and like ourselves what really matters is not our physical appearance but what is on the inside. Our heart, our soul, our love for one another is how we can not only be a true disciple of Jesus, but encounter Him in all our actions.

Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:7-11

Lord, we ask for humility, among all of our physical and emotional scars, that we may encounter Your love and grace with obedience and to be true disciples of Your mission.