GOD WAS WITH THE BOY

Genesis 21:5,8-20; Ps 34 The Lord hears the cry of the Poor; Matthew 8:28-34

God was with the boy.  With these words our first reading draws to a close.  The story of Hagar and her child Ishmael come to a resounding head.  The drama and the worry and the anxiety over life and love; despair and distress and the uncertainty of tomorrow; all of it finds it fulfillment in the last words of the Genesis account referring to Ishmael: God was with the boy.  This is how the story comes to a resolution.

This could be said of every child or every situation of distress and discomfort and uncertainty.  When it is all said and done this always becomes our place of rest: God is with the boy or God is with us.

When it is all said and done this is the truth that holds us all together.

This is the truth that held Blessed Junipero Serra as he journeyed from Spain to what is modern day California.  He logged about 24,000 miles in his life time trying to bring the good news of Christ to the new world.  Having arrived in the new world he was asthmatic and had a terrible foot sore that would be with him until his death and yet relying on the will of God an this promise to be with him he continued forth.

As the psalm reminds us, "for nought is lacking to those who fear him; those who seek the Lord want for no good thing."

Blessed Junipero Serra lived this reality daily as he founded mission after mission to tend to the native americas and fight for their rights and dignity.

St John Paul II in comments regarding Junipero Serra has this to offer, "difficulties and sorrows, accepted out of love, are transformed into a privileged way of holiness that opens to a horizon for th greater good of others, only known to God."

Juniper just kept putting one foot in front of the other.

We do this each time we put one foot in front of the other in our daily life with the mind attentive to God's continued care and concern.

God is with the boy.  God is with us all.  Let us bring his presence to those we encounter.
Unleash the missionary with in .