When I
was about to enter the 4th grade, my parents received word that I
had been accepted at Holy Family Catholic School in Orange. You would have
thought it was Harvard by their overjoyed reaction! Up until that point, I had
been a public school girl. Now the Sisters of St. Joseph would be looking out
for my education as well as my spiritual growth.
Sister
John of the Cross was my 4th grade teacher. I will never forget her!
She was about four feet tall and four feet wide! What she lacked in stature, she more than made
up with her stern scowls and cross words. Strict discipline was her primary
lesson every day. The ruler she carried around also added to her commanding presence.
I was so afraid of her, I worried I might pee my pants as she approached my row
of desks. Back in those days, a Catholic school classroom had about 45 – 55 students.
It seemed the only way to contain that many kids was with this strict
discipline, occasional threats and that darn ruler.
Every
morning, there were four math problems on the board that we were to solve as
soon as we took our seats. Then, one unlucky student was selected to approach
the board and solve all the problems in front of the class. This one morning,
she called upon Thomas G. I actually remember his last name, but I’m protecting
the guilty! Now we all knew that Thomas G. was the dumbest kid in our class. It
wasn’t meant to be mean, it was just something we all knew. When he went up to
the board, we all held our breath wondering what was about to come next. Thomas
just stood there, like a statue. He didn’t even try to solve any of the math
problems. Sister waited as long as her impatience would allow, then slowly
approached Thomas. When she reached him, she said. “I’m going to knock your
left eye into your right ear!” Of course she didn’t follow through on this
threat but to this day, I can hear those menacing words and feel how very
frightened I was.
Fast
forward two decades and my husband and I did what was called Marriage
Encounter. It was a weekend of intense learning how to communicate with each
other, share feelings, etc. It was held on the grounds of the Sisters of St.
Joseph campus in Orange. After the first evening, as we were leaving to go to our
rooms, there was a paper posted on the door of the meeting room. It was a list
of every couple attending and the name of the sister who would be praying for
them the entire weekend. As a scanned the list and found our names, guess who
was the nun praying for us?! Sister John of the Cross!! I couldn’t believe this
and had to explain to my husband the terror I felt during the fourth grade in
her class. What were the chances that this particular nun would be praying for
us??!! I shook my head in disbelief.
Walking
across the campus the next morning to breakfast, there was a nun coming towards
us driving a little scooter. Lo and behold, it was none other than Sister John
of the Cross! You can’t make this up! It felt like a movie script instead of my
real life. Sister wasn’t young when I was
ten years old and now she was downright feeble. She clearly drove the scooter
because she could no longer walk. I felt
compelled to stop her and explain that I was in her class many, many years ago
and now she was praying for my husband and me. That scary, stern woman was the
tiniest, sweetest little person who assured us we had already been in her
prayers and she would continue to pray for us. She even smiled! There was no
ruler in sight. I will never forget the
entire encounter.
Coincidence?
Maybe? I’d rather think it was God’s hand! Miracle moments occur in our lives
all the time. We just need to notice them.
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