I am re-posting an article I wrote for Didache, a Daily Bible Gospel Reflection guide published in 2018. I’m sharing it here because there’s a part II to this story:

𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑀𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘, 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑡𝑖, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐹𝑟. 𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝐶𝑖𝑒𝑔𝑜 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠. 𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜 𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑘. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘, 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑.

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔!

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛, 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡𝑜𝑜. 𝐻𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜? 𝑂𝑟 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒, 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑?

𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐼 𝑏𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛? 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠. 𝐼’𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟.

About a year after its publication, I got a message in Messenger asking if I was the one who wrote the article. She’s the star in my story! Her name is Arlene Dayrit. And the song, “Out of Roads” by Veepee Pinpin. Check it out: https://youtu.be/dj7M_-sgrJA. Warning: make sure you’re not driving when you listen.

Small world, I say. Cheers!

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