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Remember Him on your tongue
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Reprinted from February 10, 2006, for Angela. Thank you for inquiring about my stories, Angela. I promise to share and write more of them.
My front door bell rings at ten thirty this morning. I know it isn’t the milkman or the vacuum-cleaner salesman. Kids selling subscriptions to magazines and candy bars to raise money to fund their school sports and music programs walk door-to-door in the evenings after dinner. So it is instantly clear to me who the two women are standing on my slate porch.
I'm still in pajamas when I peek my head around the door to say hello. Neighbors, they call themselves, though they live one and two towns over from me. They're carrying the message of angels today along with a small black bible, which I recognize as the version used by Jehovah Witnesses. They never say who they are.
After polite greetings, they tell me the reason for their visit, “In talking with our neighbors, we find that many of us have a common interest.” Mimi, clearly the spokeswomen, explains that angels have always played an important role in history and will deliver great messages in the future. Next she asks, “What are your thoughts about that.”
Smiling widely, knowing that she realizes I’m Catholic – it’s hard to miss my rather large patina-colored Immaculate Heart statue in the front yard, the one they walked passed on their way across the red brick walkway – I answer, “Oh, I don't know where I'd be without angels guiding me.” They smile widely now too. They’ve found a target, I think to myself.
I welcome the women in out of the cold, asking them to excuse my lazy day appearance. Now inside the foyer, they hand me January’s copy of The Watchtower - Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom, and Awake! The title theme of the first pamphlet: ‘ANGELS: How They Affect Us’; and the second: ‘WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING?”
Mimi continues. Pat remains silent. For a few moments, while this nice lady spills the Jehovah’s angel spiel, I lose myself in thought and silent, secret exchange with my guardian angel, standing beside my right shoulder. So Mimi’s words have sound but no meaning like the babble, babble, babble when two people just do not make a connection.
I begin to remember the only other time a stranger preached at my doorstep: a man from the Seven Day Adventist Church down the road. His clever way to deliver a message – like Angels (I mean, come on, who among us isn’t familiar or fascinated with these heavenly creatures) – was to try to catch a Catholic off guard with a common tactic among non-Catholic groups, how well do we know the bible.
He went into a dissertation about how important the bible is. I let him talk for a few minutes before I interjected to agree, and let him know I’ve read the bible, cover-to-cover. He sounded surprised, “That’s unusual. The Catholics I know can’t recite scripture.” I answered, “Well, knowing the word of God by a practice of faith, and quoting it are two different things. I’m not able to locate verse and chapter. I just don’t have the memory for it.” The man winced, attempting to grasp “how it is you don’t have the Word of God on the tips of your tongues.”
I replied, “But we do. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Eucharist (Christ in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) is central to our faith. With it, along with the belief in Jesus, even a person who has never read scripture has the promise of eternal life.”
Getting back to my present guests…like that first man, I wonder if Mimi will cross into the subject of Jesus. She doesn’t utter a single word of Him.
Mimi and Pat are lovely, spirit-filled women. I sincerely applaud them for their zeal and efforts to do God’s work, especially since the thermometer today in
I may not have had the opportunity to share with these ladies what is central to my faith, my life, as I did previously. But that’s okay. Today reminds me that you never know when the Spirit will have you testify to the truth. Sometimes words aren’t meant. It is important, however, to always remember Him on your tongue.
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