When my older brother and I were about 7 and 2 years old respectively, my dad had a way of coming into the house that we had a lot of fun with. When my mom heard my dad’s car entering the garage of the house, my mother told us:
–Hide!!
So my brother and I ran to hide wherever we could. Later I learned that it was always the same place.
My dad came in, saying out loud, with every intention that we would listen:
–Where will Chatita and Pablito be?
Chatita was my family nickname, and my brother’s was Pablito. My brother and I laughed silently, each of us in our hiding place, with the expectation that he would find us when we least expected it.
We listened to my dad’s footsteps, approaching, and looking for us in wrong places. Until finally, He found us! We burst into laughter, receiving kisses and hanging from his neck.
On one occasion when my dad took longer to get home, my brother and I were already asleep when he arrived. My dad invited my mom to the store that was two blocks away to buy something. It was a short trip and very close. My mom accepted the invitation because it was something that took less than 10 minutes. Before we left, my mom checked and we were sound asleep, and she made sure the doors were properly locked.
On their way back from the store, my mom went to give each of us a kiss. Much to her surprise, she didn’t find me in bed. Desperately, she started looking for me and immediately told my dad. My brother was fast asleep, and everything was in its place. They both moved quickly to check the doors, the bedrooms, the kitchen, and anywhere they thought I might be, including the bathroom. And nothing, they still hadn’t found me.
My dad and mom’s confusion grew even more, because there were no signs that anyone had entered or left the house. Everything, except me, was in its place, just as they had left it before going to the store.
My parents called me, and kept frantically looking for me several times in the same places, and when my mom was on the verge of going out to look for help, they saw some little slippers peek out from under a little table that had a handmade tablecloth that reached the floor. The tablecloth was red, and so was my onesie. If it hadn’t been for the little white slippers, they wouldn’t have found me.
When she lifted the tablecloth and found me, my mom burst into tears of relief. And I bursted into laughter for having been found. For me, it made no difference whether they found me, because I didn’t know that for my parents, I was lost, even if it was only for a few moments.
It turns out that I woke up while my parents were entering the house. I followed the same game I was used to, and hid waiting for them to find me. At my young age, I didn’t know how scared my parents were.
And you, have you had any experience with similar feelings of deep anguish?
Since I was little when this happened, the details of this story were told to me by my parents several times while I was growing up. What I personally remember from that moment is only the tablecloth under which I was hiding. It was handmade by my grandma.
Fast forward a few decades, and I too have had some experiences of very deep anguish.
In your case, how do you navigate the anguish and storms in your life? What do you do in those moments?
The apostles had an experience in which they felt and thought that they were going to sink. They were in a boat when a storm was growing in intensity. And Jesus?
In your experience, have you been able to find Jesus in the middle of your storm? Although God has a good sense of humor, I’m sure he doesn’t intentionally hide and play like I did.
The apostles knew that Jesus was with them, even though he was asleep, but they knew that he was with them.
It is not that we go through storms because God is not with us, but we can go through the storm because God is with us.
When you find yourself in the middle of the storms of your life, do you know that you are accompanied by Jesus? What do you need to know so you can weather the storm?
The apostles needed to find Jesus, who literally calmed the storm.
In the storms of your life, do you find Jesus quickly? Do you feel like he is hiding from you? Do you wait until the most critical part of the storm to call him?
In my parents’ anguish for not finding me, I was playfully hiding. But in the anguish and storms of your life, even if he falls asleep, Jesus is there by your side, do you find him? Do you wake him up?
Marisol
P.S. We can hear about how God is also in the storm in the readings for the 12th Sunday of ordinary time, year/cycle B.
