In the night on September 19, 2024, I had a dream. In the dream I was in a sparsely attended church. It was as if almost all, save a few, parishioners had left. The Priest was saying Mass and suddenly the church began to flood. As the flood waters rose, he just kept saying Mass. A few more people left but some stayed including myself. I did not feel scared. This is unusual for me. But I had a feeling of complete peace, and I knew I needed to stay even as others left. As I waded through the water which was up to my chest and rising, I was the last to receive communion. There were a lot of Eucharistic hosts left, as the amount consecrated was for the people who used to be there but had gone. The Priest put all of them in my mouth. My mouth was filled. (Keep in mind this is a dream and I know it wouldn’t actually be allowed for me to receive all of those, this was a spiritual message). As I received, the Priest pointed to the chalice and asked me to rescue it as at this point the altar was almost covered. I was up to my neck in water and began to wade towards the altar to get the chalice. Then I woke up.

I realized this dream actually seems like what is happening in the world and the church today. As storms seem to surround us, the message was clear. Keep your eyes, your hunger, your thirst, your heart, on Jesus, and you will be filled with overflowing grace.

Imagine my surprise when Hurricane Helene hit just 8 days after my dream and just a few short hours from where I live. In August I had traveled to East Tennessee near the border of Western North Carolina, the very place that was hit so hard and is experiencing a desolation that has been predicted for our entire country.

It is here that I want to pause and speak about some uncomfortable things, about prophecy and also conspiracy theories. Now first let me say that I realize that prophecy is valuable and that conspiracy theories can and have been actually true. But there’s a phenomenon I see that is distracting people from their purpose. It’s as if when we think we “know” something it fills us with a measure of seeming control.

For those of us who have been paying attention to the signs of the times, we “know” something is coming. Many of us have prepared our homes. But the danger comes in when we think we can control things and we let our prepping and our “knowledge” of prophecy blind us to our first priority, which is love of God and love of neighbor.

I can say having spent time in the mountains nobody is more “prepped” than people who live there and know how to live off grid. But when those flood waters came, no matter how much you had prepped and stocked up, it was all washed away in an instant.

There was a small child though who was prepped in the way that God asks us to be. His name was Micah. When the flood waters came for Micah and swept him away, Micah called out for Jesus and asked to be saved. The Jesus I know came through, even as his lifeless body was found later. He was prepared to enter the Kingdom. It is fitting that today’s Gospel speaks of Jesus calling the little children.

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. Mark 10:13-16

Similarly one of my close friends had her 11 year old son come to her one morning and ask her for a purple scapular. My friend had never heard of this but looked it up and saw that it was for protection from storms. Typically, it is placed on the wall of your home but her son wanted to wear it to his music conservatory. He was adamant that he do so. His mother agreed to let him wear it. That same day a tornado came through and seemed to skip over the conservatory where her son wore his purple scapular. It touched down less than a mile away.

Though in these stories one boy lived and one boy passed away, both boys were prepared with faith. The purple scapular was not a magic talisman, but it was an item that God allowed grace to flow through because of the belief of a child and the promises God makes. The other boy, though it’s tragically sad for us, was trained to know who his Savior is and I have no doubt he is in happiness that we cannot fathom.

The point I am trying to make is that we really have very little control when it comes to the big things we are facing. If we think we “know” the mind of God and we set ourselves up to save ourselves with our vast “knowledge” then we really know nothing. We would do well to follow the example of these children and just trust God. Whether we live or whether we die in this world is not what is important. What is important is whether we live in love and die in love and make it to his Kingdom in heaven.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t be aware of things, or be prudent in planning, for God may be asking us to do that. It is just to say, don’t think we will save ourselves. And don’t get so distracted by what we think we know because that is what makes us sink when we are made to walk on water.

May God bless and heal North Carolina and Florida and the other areas affected by Helene. And may Micah rest in peace. God Bless you all.

If you would like to purchase the Family Healing prayer book, The Queen’s Triumph, I co-authored with Ashley Blackburn, please click this link.