Today is Holy Thursday. It is April 5, 2012. About two weeks ago (3rd week of March), I was going through my church bulletin, marking my calendar with things that I wanted to ensure I kept room for. I marked the Stations of the Cross service I wanted to go to, the Palm Sunday service, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. I also marked Holy Thursday, the Thursday before Good Friday, not really knowing what it was or what I would do that day. But I knew it was significant, so I marked it on the calendar. I later asked my father, and he said that we would not be doing anything that day, that it was not like Easter or Good Friday or Palm Sunday.
On Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, we were at church and the Priest asked if he could speak with us after Mass. We stayed after to speak with him. He told us that on Holy Thursday the church would be getting the Holy oils, blessed by the Bishop. He said that this year they would be receiving the anointing oil for the sick. He asked if I would carry it in ceremoniously, as a part of the service. He said that he has not seen God work so miraculously, as he has seen Him work in me. And since the Church has been behind me on my journey and he has personally anointed me with the oil for the sick, he thought it appropriate for me to carry in the new oil. I was so honored to have been asked.
Now I know why I wrote Holy Thursday on my calendar – to ensure I saved room to carry the Holy oil into the church. About two weeks before being asked I wrote it, not knowing what I would be doing. A week to 10 days after I wrote it, I was asked to be a part of a very meaningful service. This must have been God’s plan. I cried as 2 and 2 became 4. I wrote it in my calendar to save room for God’s plan for me – to carry in the Holy oil. The priest’s eyes welled up as I explained it to him.
As my dad and I drove off something else occurred to me. Holy Thursday, the day I unknowingly set aside to carry the Holy oil, is also the one-year anniversary of my brain cancer surgery. On this one-year anniversary day, God called me to be present. From almost 2 weeks prior, he made it known that he wanted my participation. It was His plan all along. I only needed to be open to it, to write it on my calendar without knowing why or what.
And as I thought more, something else occurred to me. Lately, during my morning prayers, I had been asking God for a sign that He is still with me on this journey. I don’t think He could have given me a more obvious sign. God is with me, and I am so blessed.
