Ascension Thursday May 18, 2023

Matthew 28:16-20

Did I ever tell you the story about the calendar in the closet at St Martin De Porres? It was my first year in the US as a young seminarian. I was going through a lot of cultural shock having left the beloved passionists priests in Africa whose identity I truly had become. Crushed by a indescribable loneliness I went out for dinner at Raffities in the east end. But I hated sitting alone, dinners used to be fun with the brothers but here I am in a strange country dining alone. There was a limp in my throat that was crushing me. I left the restaurant went back to the abandoned rectory and threw myself on the bed. The only prayer I remember saying was “Lord, what have I done leaving Africa.” God spoke to me that day and said open the closet. I dried up my tears and went to put some handme down T Shirts into this closet. Someone had left an old calendar from 1989. There it was on the wall. I fell to my knees and said “help me see you.” Anyway the verse on the forgotten calendar in the closest was “And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”

He never left, but that was a difficult day. Days later I met Ameenah Ali and Myrtle Lee Baltimore. Yup Jesus showed up as a black woman and what fun we had.