Travelers Along the Way - Benedict J. Groeschel C.F.R.

Travelers Along the Way (eBook)

The Men and Women Who Shaped My Life

Benedict J. Groeschel C.F.R. (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
176 Seiten
Servant (Verlag)
978-1-63582-371-4 (ISBN)

In a series of always moving, sometimes surprising, and occasionally hilarious stories, Fr. Benedict Groeschel introduces you to the men and women who have influenced him over the course of his life. Some are unknown, such as Mr. Graff, a Jewish man who tailored the suit the young Groeschel would wear to the seminary: 'Look, I don't understand about monasteries, but I'll give you a piece of advice. Be a good boy.' Some are famous, such as Mother Teresa, Cardinal John O'Connor, and Fr. Solanus Casey who once, in Fr. Benedict's presence, stepped unprotected into a swarm of angry bees, pulled out his harmonica, and played 'Mother Machree' to calm them. Their stories will not only inspire you, but also help you appreciate those who have enriched and deepened your own life.

In a series of always moving, sometimes surprising, and occasionally hilarious stories, Fr. Benedict Groeschel introduces you to the men and women who have influenced him over the course of his life. Some are unknown, such as Mr. Graff, a Jewish man who tailored the suit the young Groeschel would wear to the seminary: "e;Look, I don't understand about monasteries, but I'll give you a piece of advice. Be a good boy."e; Some are famous, such as Mother Teresa, Cardinal John O'Connor, and Fr. Solanus Casey who once, in Fr. Benedict's presence, stepped unprotected into a swarm of angry bees, pulled out his harmonica, and played "e;Mother Machree"e; to calm them. Their stories will not only inspire you, but also help you appreciate those who have enriched and deepened your own life.

CHAPTER FOUR

Fr. Solanus Casey

I consider two encounters to be among the greatest blessings I have ever received. One was with the Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey, an old Capuchin. The other was with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It would be impossible for me to say which of these two people—who were very different from each other—was the greater. Each was truly and thoroughly holy. Each was extraordinarily close to God.

When I arrived at my novitiate—after meeting Br. Ferdinando—I soon had the opportunity to observe Fr. Solanus, the very gentle, holy soul whom many people already called a saint. This is because he was one of those few people who managed to achieve in their earthly lives the goal of full service to God without any complaint. This is also because many people claimed physical miracles had actually been performed through this humble man’s prayers.

Actually, by the time of Fr. Solanus’s death in 1967, there were nearly nine hundred claims that his prayers had been the cause of favors received from God, from small things to healings of severe illnesses. I have met some people who could give examples of this. Br. Leo Wollenweber, who is vice-postulator of the cause of canonization of Fr. Solanus, tells me that over the years he has received about two thousand reports of favors short of miracles that people throughout the world ascribe to the prayers of this humble but great Capuchin friar.

A number of biographies of Fr. Solanus are easily available, and so there is no need to speak here in detail about the events of his life. However, there is one event that is recorded in some of those books about which I do want to tell. It is a story in which I participated.

As a young novice, I was unable to sleep one night. Finally I gave up trying, and at about two o’clock in the morning, I went down to the darkened chapel to pray. I assumed I would be alone, but it turned out that I was not.

As I turned on the two strong lights that were trained on the altar, I discovered Fr. Solanus in front of me, kneeling on the top step in front of the tabernacle. Seeing him was a shock, because he was clearly in some kind of ecstasy and completely unaware of my presence. He didn’t even realize that I had turned on the lights. His eyes were fixed on the door of the tabernacle. The arms of this elderly man were extended outward in prayer, and as the seconds passed, I realized he was absolutely unmoving; his arms did not tremble in the slightest.

I watched for a few minutes, and during that time he did not move at all. I then put out the lights and went back to my room, feeling very embarrassed. It was as if I had seen something that I should not have, something that was intensely private. In fact, as I look back on that night, I now realize I was wrong. Those few moments gave me the opportunity to be a witness in Fr. Solanus’s cause for beatification, to enable the world to know a little more of his deep sanctity.

But this is not the image of Fr. Solanus that I most want to share with you. I have chosen instead a story that is not in most of his biographies and is in some ways much more fascinating. It is certainly more lighthearted—although it definitely didn’t seem that way at the time.

It was about four o’clock in the afternoon one day during my novitiate. I believe it was early fall and growing cool— perhaps it was early or mid-October. Suddenly the alarm bell sounded, summoning the novices to come as quickly as possible. We obediently ran down the stairs to discover an enormous swarm of bees in one of the trees outside.

The monastery was surrounded by acres of apple orchards, and to pollinate the trees we needed bees. We kept several hives, each of which was home to thousands of bees. I thought I had grown used to them, but I had certainly never seen the bees do anything like what they were doing at that moment: Thousands of them were swarming angrily, creating what seemed to be a huge, threatening, dark mass. It almost looked like one single creature rather than countless tiny ones.

As we were watching this in utter astonishment, we received our instructions—ones that tested obedience to the limit. We were to put on protective hats, gloves, and nets; then we were to go outside to determine exactly what the problem was with the bees, as such events could have one of several causes. As if this were not enough, we were then supposed to fix things and calm the bees down.

Yearning for Jersey City (where you never see bees), I covered every inch of exposed skin as thoroughly as I could. Then, in the company of some of the other novices, I went outside and walked toward the bees as slowly as was humanly possible. My heart was pounding, and I felt absolutely helpless—pretty much the way condemned murderers must feel as they are being marched to the gallows. I knew no particular prayers that implored God for deliverance from bees, but you can be sure that I was composing some in record time.

Apparently, as we novices were getting ready to confront the swarm, the novice master had sent for Fr. Solanus. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, wearing his habit, just as he always did, and not bothering with any protection at all. As he walked toward the swarm of very angry bees, he casually told us all to remain calm. This proved a very difficult thing to do, because as he spoke thousands of bees started to swarm around him. I immediately included Fr. Solanus in my newly composed prayers for deliverance from bees.

As the bees swarmed and the buzzing increased, Fr. Solanus spoke quietly to them, telling them to calm down. He spoke as if to a person. Then he approached one of the hives and opened it—as if this were the most natural thing in the world to do.

After a moment’s inspection of the hive, Fr. Solanus explained that the problem would be easy to remedy. There must be two queens, he told us. Removing the extra queen would remove the problem. Peering into the hive, which seemed to be pulsating with agitated bees, he asked us for help in finding the extra queen. I demurred. By that time I was so frightened that I couldn’t have found the Queen Mary.

Fr. Solanus reached down into the hive. His arm was now black with bees, and bees were tangled in his long, white beard. He barely seemed to notice as he rummaged around for a few seconds. Then, looking pleased, he brought up a white wormlike creature: the queen. Wrapping her carefully in his handkerchief, he put her in his pocket.

I watched all this, absolutely amazed, sure that the bees would now turn on him to protect the queen. But that never happened. The bees continued to swarm, but not one of them stung him.

Once the queen was safely in his pocket, Fr. Solanus reached into his sleeve, removing handfuls of bees. Then he produced his harmonica and began to play “Mother Machree” to calm the bees down. Somehow it worked: They became less and less agitated and started to enter the hive. In a relatively short time, the bees were at peace again.

The event was surreal, seemingly impossible, but I witnessed it. No one could have done what Fr. Solanus did, but it happened, and what’s more, Fr. Solanus didn’t think there was anything particularly special about it. Neither, strangely, did some of the other novices, which puzzles me to this day.

At other times in my life I have observed events that have seemed utterly mysterious and have been surprised to discover that many of the people around me seemed not to notice them. This shows how unaware we are of the mysterious and how little we appreciate the out-of-the-ordinary. It also shows that we can refuse to see what is plainly before our eyes if it is something beyond our expectations. We resist acknowledging things for which we have no categories, events that might force us to change our view of things.

Often, while observing the actions of Mother Teresa or even the kind and gentle actions of Cardinal Terence Cooke, I have been astonished at the matter-of-fact attitude of most people toward them. People could regularly observe them in the midst of doing things with extraordinary holiness—usually not spectacular things, but things filled with holiness nonetheless —and somehow remain totally unaware of this.

Other events took place that are similar to Fr. Solanus’s conversation with the bees. Sick people came to the monastery in large numbers to visit him and to ask for his prayers for healing. On one occasion a boy was carried in on a stretcher, and only a couple of weeks later was able to stand on his own legs and come to Mass at the monastery. I believe this boy was not Catholic but Jewish.

There were also claims from many people that Fr. Solanus had told them of things that would happen in the future. One man told me that he had visited Fr. Solanus at the St. Bonaventure Monastery to discuss whether his mother should have a third cancer operation or not. The man loved his mother greatly and did not want to put her through more surgery if it would not really help her. Like so many, this man depended on Fr. Solanus to help him make the right decision. He was confident that this simple priest would provide him with the right answer.

Always understanding...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	1.2.2023
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
ISBN-10	1-63582-371-4 / 1635823714
ISBN-13	978-1-63582-371-4 / 9781635823714

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