Years ago, the Academy Award-winning actress Marcia Gary Harden played her best role for the Make-A-Wish Foundation portraying Snow White for Bonnie, a little girl dying of cancer.
Snow White was Bonnie’s favorite movie and she wanted to meet Snow White, so the date was set. As Marcia was preparing for her bedside Performance, a casting agency called her to audition for a new Olive Stone movie.
The auditions were scheduled for the same day as her Snow White performance. Neither could be changed, her hospital performance for Bonnie or her chance for the Oliver Stone movie. After a sleepless night and many tears Marcia decided to keep her promise to the little girl. When Marcia [Snow White] entered the room Bonnie’s face lit up.
After the performance Bonnie asked Snow White, “When I die, will the prince kiss me and then I’ll wake up again?”
The room fell silent as Marcia [Snow White] tried to think of what to say to Bonnie.
Finally, she said, “No, Bonnie, It is even better. When you get to heaven, God will kiss you and then you’ll wake up again.”
Years later, Marcia said of that moment: “At that moment in the hospital room with
Bonnie …. I knew that I was exactly where I was meant to be, playing exactly the role I was meant to play.” [Connections, April 2008]
Each one of us is searching, why we are here on earth, why did God create us and send us here at this time in the history of Salvation?
The sense of purpose, the sense of being part of something beyond self, to discover what Jesus wants us to do is the Grace of Easter. The Grace of the Resurrected Christ.
The real miracle of the spiritual journey is that we are on it every day, in the ordinary stuff of life: family, work, the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, the rain, the sunshine, a walk, a trip to the grocery store, etc.
Henri Nouwen wrote, “It is a story of God who wants to come close to us, … so close that there is nothing between us & him….” [With Burning Hearts Henri Nouwen, pg.67]
The gift of the Eucharist does just that!
May God Be Praised!
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