A sneak peek inside God Moments III: True Love Leads To Life, the third book in the award-winning God Moments Series.
God Knew That I Was Going to Need Her
By Nancy Davis
On July 16,
2010, I attended a Mass for the Veneration of the Relics of Blessed Mother
Teresa of Calcutta at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the
Immaculate Conception, in Peoria, Illinois. This stop of the
relics in Peoria was a last minute thing and only publicized via the web site
of the Diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Post, just a couple days before
the event. The only way I became aware that the relics would be passing
through was because the information showed up on
Facebook.
For some
reason, I felt I compelled to go to this Mass. I didn’t know
why. For several years I had a special
interest in Blessed Mother Teresa and had read many books about her, but wasn't
sure why I seemed to have this overwhelming need to attend this Mass.
It so happened that my work schedule allowed
for me to attend, so I did. It was a very nice Mass; the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity brought up the relics and
following Mass by the Bishop, the people were
invited to come forward to venerate the relics with a kiss, bow, or other
sign.
As we came
forth to venerate the relics, the Sisters of the
Missionaries of Charity passed out medals of Blessed Mother
Teresa. On the front was her face and on the
back the words, "Pray for Us." I accepted the medal, but
since I am very allergic to nickel, I am extremely limited in what jewelry I
can wear. I decided to put it on with my cross and see what
happened. I would know in a couple hours if I could wear it as generally
by that time, if it has nickel in it, I will start itching and breaking out
with a rash. Well, I put it on and nothing happened, so I left it
on. No questions, I just left it on.
Flash
forward to August 9, 2010. I was in a home for disabled children in
Mexico as part of my mission work twice a year. My daughter and I had
come to clean the home which houses about 25 disabled adults and children, many
of them profoundly handicapped. In Mexico, the government does not
provide any financial assistance to places such as this, so the facility is run
solely on donations, which sometimes are sorely lacking.
I had been
there one other time and it really needed cleaning, so that is what I thought
we were going to be doing that day. God had other plans. When we
arrived the pastor thanked us for coming and said, “What I really need today is
help bathing the children.” I am a nurse, but in my heart, my first
thought was, “I don’t know if I can do this!!!” In all my years I had
never worked with this population of people and there was a certain element of
fear. But, my mouth said immediately, “Sure, Pastor, show us what to
do.”
He
introduced us to one of the higher functioning residents who was in charge
of the baths. At the time, I spoke basically no Spanish but figured out
that she was saying that we had five baths to do. So we went into one
of the rooms where beds lined the walls and there were developmentally disabled
children restrained in beds or wheelchairs, and my helper picked Maria to go first.
Maria was about 13 years old, was in a wheelchair, had
deformed little limbs, could not talk, and was in diapers. Let me set the
scene in the bathroom, so you have a little visual as to what we were going to
be doing. First of all, it was August and the temperature was in the
100's, and of course there was no air conditioning. In
the bathroom there was a round metal tub of water on the floor, a mesh bath
table, and one loofah on the floor. There were no wash clothes or clean
towels for each child. The tub of water was for everybody who got a bath
that day.
The nurse
in me, was saying, “You can do this, this is business, take care of it,"
but inside I wanted to cry and run away. So, my
assistant and I went to work as my daughter cleaned wheelchairs. I was struggling. I all my years of service work, I
had not been challenged as much as this. As we bathed the second
or third child, I was overcome with this sudden sense of a presence of the
Divine. I didn't really know what was happening. Blessed Mother
Teresa came into my mind and my heart, and I remembered that when she was asked
how she cared for the dying of Calcutta, some of them hideously covered with
maggots and horrendous wounds, she said that she looked into their eyes and saw
the face of Jesus. She was caring for Jesus in disguise. That is
how she did it.
One of her
quotes is, “Feelings of repugnance are human, but if I see the face of Jesus in
His distressing disguise, I will be holy.” As I looked deep into the eyes
of the helpless child I was bathing, I touched my medal, and I knew why I was
supposed to go to the Mass for the Veneration of Mother Teresa’s relics.
God knew that I was going to need her. At that point in time, I
experienced this amazing moment of grace. I
looked into the face of this innocent and beautiful child of God and I saw
Jesus in disguise. I instantly knew that I was right where God wanted me
to be, doing just what he wanted me to be doing, and all was right with my
world. It was a moment of joy that could only be
from the Divine, one of those ah-hah moments.
All of a
sudden I realized it was my privilege to bathe these children, that the world
would consider “throw-aways,” that I had the opportunity to touch them with
loving hands and a loving heart. What a blessing!!! We ended
up doing seven baths that day and what started out to be a service to these
children ended up being a tremendous gift to me.
It was a day I will never forget. It was a day and a duty I had
approached with trepidation, but God had a better plan.
When I
returned to the United States that night at about 10:30 p.m., I checked my
Facebook page. There was a message from a friend in a faith community that I belong to. She is someone that I
know, who is my friend on Facebook, but not someone that I had ever
corresponded with there before. I had not seen her for probably 1 ½ years
or more. The message had been posted at 8:56 a.m. that morning and
said: “Good morning, Nancy… you were on my mind all morning at Mass—maybe
you need an extra prayer today? Anyway you got one. I hope
you have a wonderful day.” How did she know? So not only was
Blessed Mother Teresa with me, but God had enlisted the aid of spiritual
friends to strengthen me for the journey I was to walk that day.
My life was
forever changed that day. I have no doubt of the intercession of Blessed
Mother Teresa in all of this. Her medal still remains with my cross around my
neck to this day. Through her intercession, God graced me with
eyes to see the beauty of life in all stages and that no life is accidental,
wasted, or without purpose. With eyes of clear vision I
saw the blessing of these children, and God used them to teach me a lesson one
could never learn in a book. He taught me about life, love, and the value
of human life in all forms.
Is this all
coincidence? Well one could maybe see it that way I suppose, but the
great pope, Blessed John Paul II, said on the first anniversary of the
assassination attempt upon his life on May 13, 1982, that “In the designs of
Providence, there are no mere coincidences.”
Nancy
Davis is a mom, daughter, wife, nurse,
and loves the adventure of the spiritual journey. Her “tribe” right
now is the immigrant and alien. She does service work in Mexico twice a
year, heads up the Midwest branch of Bridges of Promise, a not-for-profit
organization to help the orphans of Tanzania and volunteers with an immigrants
families group. She is active in several ministries of her church
including choir, Eucharistic ministry, and homebound Eucharistic ministry, and
WATCH. She is an active member of the Eastern Area Cursillo
Community.
Thank you, Nancy, for sharing your beautiful story. God is at work in you!
God Moments III: True Love Leads To Life, written and compiled by Michele Bondi Bottesi (Joseph Karl Publishing) will be available in print October, 2012.