Fiat!

Have you ever had one of those days when coincidences, or Godincidences as I like to call them, happen all day long???

That was yesterday for me. I have been participating in daily Advent reflections with a friend each night.  One of the reflection pieces contained a quote from Mother Teresa and prompted me to look up the blog posting I had written in early October when I had posted the Martina McBride song that reminds me of Mother Teresa for my friend to listen to...in doing so, I saw this image that I had also posted in that same blog posting.

 

 The caption for the picture was this:  This picture was shared by my friend, Joseph, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Lancaster, PA....Love this depiction of the Good Shepherd!!

When I saw this photo, and the caption, I got chills.  

For yesterday, when all this occurred, was the 7th anniversary of my friend's beautiful mom passing away in a car accident.

Likewise, the last few nights the Advent readings/gospels have used the imagery of Jesus as our shepherd.  It was then that I recalled at mass an hour earlier, we had sung the song, "Like a Shepherd", and as if that weren't enough, Adam remembered a picture we had looked at the night before:

 A Nativity Scene was erected in a church yard. During the night, someone came across this. An abandoned dog was looking for a comfortable, protected place to sleep. He chose baby Jesus as his comfort. No one had the heart to send him away so he was there all night. We should all have the good sense of this dog and curl up in Jesus' lap from time to time. This is too sweet not to share. No one mentioned that the dog breed is a "shepherd!" This pooch was later rescued by a church member. 

I recall seeing this story last year but it's still appropriate today.  Not only does the pup remind me of our puppy growing up who was named, Shep, but it reminds me of how we need to look beyond or outside ourselves.  It's so easy to get bogged down and trapped in our own limited worldviews and to not see the suffering neighbor right next to us or the person we can help at work or how a little can go a long way in our interactions with others.  My prayer is to help shepherd me beyond my wants or desires and to be open to God's will, much like the lyrics in one of my favorite church hymns.  Is it a coincidence I'm thinking of these things today, the traditional date of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, that personally reminds me of seeking to embrace God's will as Mary did?  I think not...perhaps a Godincidence though! 

So....the Godincidences don't stop there.  I just searched for a video on Youtube of the song I referred to in the above paragraph.  I found this one from a graduating class of 2013 and thought how cool considering I'm graduating in five months and one day.  Then, I noticed the location of this video:  St. Anthony of Padua Church (the same name of the church from Joseph's picture) AND it's in California, which is where Adam lives.  !!!!  Not to mention the special connections with St. Anthony of Padua during my time down here (a search on my blog will likely yield several postings in which he is the subject).  Incredible!!!