"It is the will of God that the command of the ship be entrusted to a master who, with his light and knowledge, can guide us to a safe port." St. Jose Maria Escriva
I have been in Connecticut for the past couple of days and this morning, after a restless night, I decided to climb out of bed by 4:30 am (even though my flight was not until 8:30). By 5:45, I was on the road. It was foggy, dark and raining, not the best driving conditions. To say that I was nervous is an understatement. I had to drive for one hour to the airport and I was literally shaking. So I did what I always do when I feel afraid. I prayed.
I prayed before I left my hotel room for the angels to protect me on the drive. I asked Mama Mary to be my co-pilot. I prayed to Jesus to take the wheel. And on my drive, I prayed the rosary. It took me the entire hour to get through the rosary so I'm pretty sure that I prayed more than the five required "Hail Mary's" in some of the mysteries.
The first twenty minutes of my drive were the worst because I had to drive on a pretty dark two-lane road through the forest. I kept my high beams on for most of the ride. I couldn't help but think that the high beam represented Jesus. He lights our path on our journey through life. When He lights the way, we have a clear vision of where we are going.
Once in a while, I had to turn down the high beams because a car was approaching on the opposite direction. I compared these cars to the world. The obstacles of our daily life that are constantly distracting us and making us lose sight of Jesus. The allures that blind us with its lights and make us lose sight of the path that God intends for us to follow.
Even though I still had the lights on, I couldn't see the road as clear as when the high beams were on. I compared my low beams to the angels. The angels guard us and protect us, they light the way for us and even though they are not as bright as Jesus, they still help us stay on the right path. Without these low lights that illuminate our way, we would be surrounded by complete darkness.
Once in a while, there was a lighted tree with Christmas lights. Yes, in the middle of the forest. I took this as holy signs that I was not alone. These lighted trees were marking the way and giving me hope that I would reach my destination without any trouble. I compared these lighted trees to the weapons that our Church offers us to give us hope: Holy Water, rosaries, images of the saints, paintings of our blessed Mother and Jesus, the cross... We don't worship these holy signs but they help us light our path.
There were also road signs. The ones that called my attention were the signs that had a deer painted on them with the word "crossing" underneath. Even though I love these "Rudolph" relatives, I was praying that they would stay away from the road at this early hour. The last thing I needed was a deer deciding to cross in front of me in top of everything else. And when they cross the road, they usually don't waltz across it. My hubby and I were witnesses to two deer crossing the road once in New Jersey. They crossed in front of us at the speed of lightning. It took us a few seconds to realize they were deer. I related these road signs to the Bible and other Christian books that are available to us. They warn us of possible dangers and they also point us in the right direction.
Finally, I made it to the highway and I breathed a sigh of relief. But then I realized that the highway was not much better than the country road because the highway was crowded. It was full of cars and trucks in a hurry to get to their destination. And as they zoomed past me, they splattered my car with the water from the puddles on the road. I compared this part of the journey to the people that we encounter on our path. Some are walking at the same pace as we are, some are going very slow and others are going very fast. At one point, I looked through my rearview mirror and I saw the lights of the car behind me in top of me. What was this person thinking? And on a wet road? It's the same in life. Some people are going to push us, crowd our space, drive us out of control or try to get us off the road. But if we keep our eyes on our destination and we keep going at our same pace, they will eventually give up on us and drive right past us.
And I cannot leave out the fog and drizzling rain that accompanied me the entire hour. This reminded me of those fallen angels that we have met on our last few meditations. The fog was so thick in some parts that it was blinding. It surrounded the car giving me the impression that I was going to be swallowed by the fog, car and all. And the pounding rain threatened to make me slip right off the road. That is exactly what the enemy does. It wants to blind us. It surrounds us until it suffocates us. We feel like we are going to be swallowed by its false promises and if we allow him, he will succeed in making us fall through the precipice that borders our path.
The enemy wears many masks so we need to keep our high beams on all the time in order to recognize him. In our next meditation, we will unmask the enemy. We will meet him face to face by removing some of the many masks that he likes to wear. But we do not need to fear because with our High Beam lighting the way, the enemy has no power over us. And just like I made it safely to the airport, the High Beam will guide us safely to our final port in heaven.
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