That One Time I Almost Got Arrested

I sat in on Mass one day, listening to the neighborhood Priest preach about serving the needs of the poor. He shared about the witness of Bl. Mother Teresa, who devoted her life, literally walking through the slums of Calcutta, India; serving the needs of the poorest of the poor. After Mass was over, I can’t say that I was inspired to go to a third-world country and devote my life to missionary work, but I was moved to consider how I would respond the next time I saw a person in need on the side of the road.

Not too many days later, I found myself driving down the road one night, and there appeared in the bike lane, a woman who I had seen repeatedly pushing a shopping cart. Her clothes were disheveled, she appeared to have not bathed for days, and she seemed to converse with herself. Typically, I’d be too busy to see how I could help, but given that I had no plans at the moment, and the previous sermon was seared into my heart, I thought I’d park the car.

I went down to a market not too far from where the lady was and bought a few food items I thought might be helpful. Afterwards I walked down towards the lady and introduced myself, while offering her the things from the market. Her name was Rosemary and she thanked me. We chatted for a bit, and then all of a sudden we both saw someone approaching us with a flashlight… a bit disconcerting in the middle of the night on the side of the road. A man shouted out, “This is the Police, show me what you’re holding in your hand!

Now, no one likes to be approached by the police, even if they’re not doing anything shady. But a part of me couldn’t help but laugh on the inside at the fact that, not only am I innocent of crime, but I’m being caught in the act of doing some good. I showed the police officer my bag of paraphernalia, which included a bottle of water and some food items. I explained that I was sharing it with Rosemary, and the police officer was a bit baffled, but said, “That’s nice of you.”  He then wished me a good night, and walked back to his squad car.

I am certainly no saint, but hearing about the lives of the Saints from our Church history, is constant inspiration for me to emulate the things God helped them to accomplish, while striving towards my eternal heritage: Heaven. I think that when most Catholics sit in the pews and ponder the statues and stained glass windows, they forget that the saints were not too much different than them. They were all sinners who struggled to be good, and holy. In the words of St. Augustine, “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.” It might be helpful to note here that before St. Augustine became a priest, bishop, and saint; he fathered a child outside of wedlock, ran away from home, joined a cult, and prayed the famous prayer: “Lord grant me chastity, but not yet.” There is hope for all of us.

The truth is, God calls us to be saints in this life, and one does not have to be a nun, priest, bishop, or even an altar server (or “donut server” after Mass), to be one. Your circumstances, geographical location, culture, generation you find yourself in, will be different than the saints of the past. Your path to holiness will look different than this person or that person. And remember, to be a saint is not to levitate, work miracles, or preach to thousands of people, necessarily.

To be a saint, is to acknowledge that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, that He established a Church that communicates His grace to us through the Sacraments, and that He gave us this opportunity called life, to share His love and goodness with others, accomplishing His will. We can’t earn Heaven or holiness… Christ has already earned those things for us. We need to simply, and daily, open our arms and hearts; receive His gifts, and stop thinking this is somehow our work or doing. It’s not. Our life is an “Opus Dei”, or “Work of God”. Ironically, He just needs our permission.

In even simpler terms written by Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Let’s get started.