Last Sunday, I woke up early motivated to get my self packed for our trip. I gently woke up Niko and said, “Let’s get up and get packed before we go to Church.” As we worked on our personal packing, I was overwhelmed with the amount of donations we still had yet to pack. I would not know how much space we would have available for these donations until we each had our personal items packed. Anxiety began to fill me as I looked at the great feat ahead of me.
As we headed off to Church, Niko was almost all packed and I was well on my way, but the stress of all those donations, still loomed large in my consciousness.
It was Fr. Jim’s last Mass at St. Leo’s. He had been assigned to a new parish. I was grateful to be there to send him off and to infuse myself with the energy of this community as we prepared for our journey to southern Africa in just 6 more days.
To my surprise and delight Fr. Jim’s sermon was about St. Camillus. I have been a Catholic for over 55 years and never before have a heard a talk, a sermon or a story about St. Camillus. I knew nothing about him. And it is the name of the orphanage that we are going to in Lesotho. Coincidence? I think not.
St. Camillus is the patron saint of the sick and of those who care for the sick. He was a friend of St. Ignatius. Fr. Jim shared the story of St. Camillus being overwhelmed by his calling to create an order of religious dedicated for caring for the sick. There was so much that needed to be done. He had no idea how he could possibly do it. In the midst of his overwhelm, he heard the voice of God say, “Why do you worry, don’t you know that this is my plan.”
As Fr. Jim repeated God’s words. “Why do you worry, don’t you know that this is my plan?” I heard God speaking to me. I felt my breath deepen and my shoulders relax. I have known from the beginning that this trip was a calling from God. I knew it was God’s plan, God’s trip, directed by Spirit. My job was to say, “Yes.”, listen to the voice of my spirit, respond to it’s urging and all would be well. All of those donations would get to Lesotho. All I needed to do was trust.