Today's Gospel

What Will Your Message Be?

What jumps out at you today? The idea that the Spirit will provide the things to say is something that is very real for me, is very near and dear to my heart because I've been in that situation so often where you go somewhere to speak and maybe you've done a lot of preparation and maybe you think you know what you're going to say and then something happens and for whatever reason, what you thought you were going to say just isn't going to work. It isn't going to land with the audience. It isn't going to resonate with the audience. You need to say something else. I have very distinct memories of September 11th because I was on a plane. And I flew out of New York that morning and landed in Cincinnati. And I went home. And I was working on a book, I think. So, I just had my phone off. And I didn't know anything had happened. I thought when I got to the airport in Cincinnati, it was sort of weird. There wasn't really anyone around. But nobody had said what had happened. Nobody was talking about what had happened. And so I drove home. And then there was a knock on my front door. And one of the guys who was working with me, he's like, "You need to turn on the television. I've called you 47 times." And of course, I did. And then I realized with the rest of the world what had happened. But that night, I was scheduled to speak here in Cincinnati. So I went into the office, and the team is like, "Well, we should cancel, right?" And I'm like, "No. Absolutely not. We're not going to cancel. This is a time when people need to come together. They need to come together and pray. They need a message." And one of the women on my staff said, "But what will the message be?" And I'm like, "I have no idea what the message will be. But fortunately, it's only 2 o'clock, and we're not on till seven o'clock, so we got some time to work that out." But I've been in situations in my life where I really did not know what I was going to say, but the Spirit did deliver, and the Spirit does deliver. And it's good for us to have those experiences and to learn to trust in His providence. In what way is God calling you, challenging you, encouraging you to trust in His providence today? Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.