God often leads us in unexpected ways, yet grace can be found in all different types of situations. Whether change comes because we wanted it to or because it was forced upon us, God was present in ways we might not have understood until later. We asked readers to share stories of surprising moments of faith in no more than 100 words. In these (very) short essays, they describe the ways in which they encountered God. The Lord can be present even in people or situations we least expect.
I carry fast food gift cards in case I happen to see someone who might need a meal. One winter day I walked out of a store and saw a homeless man. I asked him if I could give him a gift card, and he asked me if I would give it instead to an old lady who was in the bus stop enclosure. Here was a man who clearly could use this gift but he thought of someone else before himself. ‘What you do for the least of my brethren you do for me.’
Janie A. Blank
Bexley, Ohio
June 2012: I stood in my monastic cell wearing my lay clothes. Tears flowed; a bell called the monks to prayer. I whispered: The next time I was supposed to leave the monastery was in a casket. But I am headed back into the world. Who am I now? I wondered in anger. May 2022: I am a social worker who answers mental health calls at a police department. I help police pull a survivor out of a river after their jump off a bridge. I whisper: God’s will is miraculous. May we all get second chances.
Joachim Seelos
Iowa City, Iowa
“What do you think his story is?” she asked. “Jesus in disguise,” I blurted out.
As the eldest child of Sri Lankan immigrants, I carried the worries and expectations of my parents. One summer day, my parents took the family to the market to buy books to prepare for the next school year, my fourth grade (which I was very nervous about). As I was browsing, my eyes gravitated toward a poster that featured the verses of Matthew 6:25-34. The words “Do not worry about tomorrow” and the examples Jesus shared quieted my anxious heart. Throughout my adult life, these passages have continuously served to anchor me and give me peace.
Liam Joseph Avalon
Montreal, Canada
Years ago I had just started to work for a Republican politician. While at a bar with like-minded acquaintances, I met a very pleasant Notre Dame graduate. We watched a young man playing pool nearby whose spiked hair and leather didn’t fit in with our more conservatively dressed group. “What do you think his story is?” she asked. “Jesus in disguise,” I blurted out. She looked at me in shock, which matched my own surprise. Her expression soon changed, as if I could have been right. I still think I might have been.
Richard Bogovich
Rochester, Minn.
My older brother and I have faith conversations online about twice a week. We are seven years apart in age, and more so in our education and life experiences. He is of the silent generation and I of the baby boomers. His education (engineering, MBA) and mine (history, hospital administration) differed, as did our work lives. Our adult faith experiences have thus differed, until he began forwarding brief readings from Henri Nouwen and Richard Rohr. Through our online dialogues, each of us is growing in our understanding of faith, the previous differences shrinking and our faith lives expanding and deepening.
John Cramer
Naperville, Ill.
