Third Sunday of Lent - Heart Attack!

When I graduated from High School, part of the program, actually, the administration's last attempt at controlling our class, was to sing "The Age of Aquarius"  which was made popular by the Mammas and the Pappas, if my mind serves me right.  If you are not familiar with the tune, it is a tune that glorifies astrology.  The age of Aquarius is supposed to usher in a time of peace and tranquility.  Well, I graduated in 1970 so we see how well that worked out, peace and tranquility indeed!  But Aquarius is the water bearer. Today's first reading tells of the Hebrews who have a lack of water and they were concerned about this. Moses is at his wit's end.  Here were a people who had seen the Red Sea open up allowing them to pass over dry land with water like a wall on the left and on the right.  This was a people who had been eating free food, manna in the morning and quail at night. Now, they were thirsty.  They begin grumbling and forgetting what God had already done and had the unmitigated gall to ask Moses if he had dragged them out to the desert just to see them perish from thirst.  Moses went to God and told his tale of woe about the stiff-necked people. God provided water when Moses struck the rock. The issue here was one of trust.  The people, who had been given abundance and plenty still failed to trust in God when the going got tough. The people needed water.  This was not an optional thing as they would die without it. God was well aware of their needs and would have met them without all of the grumblings. 

Are we any different than the Hebrews at Meribah? On the day of Massah when our fathers tempted God although they had seen His works?  In our lifetime have there been times when we have had needs and have forgotten the times when God has been there? Do we grumble as the Hebrews did in the desert?

It is more than a matter of trust. It is a matter of giving up control.  We want control of our lives, every day and every minute.  As one who has had a heart attack, I can tell you that each of us will come to a point when all control is lost. Here is my story. 

If you ever want to beat the crowd in the emergency room simply follow these instructions. Step one, Be a past middle-aged man who is overweight. Step two, go up to the counter and say just two words, "Chest Pain."  The doors swing wide open and the medical community descends on you in force and in little more than two minutes you are in a bed with a central line in and hooked up to a monitor and munching on an aspirin.  All control was wrested from me. I sunk into a moment of self-pity, which was my version of what the Hebrews did at the rock, Then, recovering my senses I turned my plight over to God. I have to tell you it was hard to give up the illusion of having complete control as just one hour before I was seemingly in charge of my life, then, suddenly, I was not in charge or control of anything. Strangers all dressed in white were coming in, checking this and that, injecting medicine all without asking my permission. I prayed and turned it over to God. Things improved for me from that moment on.  By this I mean my mind stopped racing and I knew that no matter what happened from this point on, good or bad, I would be okay. For a few moments, I was just like the Hebrews. When I sunk into self-pity I forgot all of the things God had done for me in my life to that moment.  Long story short, four stents later I was sent home after a couple of days in the hospital.  The doctor said that there had been no damage to my heart.  He likened it to getting a scratch on a new car.  The car still worked, it just had this scratch. 

Water, a simple thing. Our bodies are about sixty percent water. Water refreshes the body when we drink it.  It cleanses the body when we wash with it. It cleanses the soul at Baptism.  Water is just another example of God's love and care for His children. Don't be surprised if when something happens in your life and you lose control. Your first reaction may well be to grumble and say "why me?"  Later, when you come to your senses and you realize that God is in control, you will surrender to Him, secure in the knowledge that he will not disappoint you.