Inspirations And Other Promptings
by Fr. Ron Gonzales, S.J.
The seemingly coincidental encounters Jesus had with many of the people we hear about in Scripture (i.e. Zacchaeus, the woman with the hemorrhage, the blind man, the lepers) were hardly coincidental. Jesus knew beforehand what he was about to do and how he was about to do it. Each of these people would have had an inspiration or a prompting to "climb a tree to see", "touch the hem" or "cry out the name of Jesus Son of David" only to discover that Jesus had already been thinking about them and knew what he was going to do.
In our seemingly mundane or routine lives every-now-and-then we are suddenly inspired to call a friend whom we have not spoken to in a while, write a letter of gratitude to a teacher, a coach, a family member, or friend that touched our lives in the past and for whom we were thinking about, check in on someone who has been ill for a long time or someone who lives alone. These promptings in prayer are often an invitation from Jesus to make a simple yet powerful act of responding to them so that he can touch both lives.
More often, the confirmation of these spiritual promptings comes from a response, "I too had been thinking about you recently." As we wait during this Advent season, I invite you to ponder who comes up in your thoughts and prayers today and reach out to them with a phone call, a Christmas card/e-card, an email, a gift basket. You may be surprised to know that "waiting" is very much an active experience. Jesus knows what He wants to do.
