Oct182026
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One Thanksgiving morning a doctoral exchange student went for a bike ride and was killed by a hit and run. A nurse called me to say the parents had arrived from Italy and requested a priest. When I arrived at the hospital, the nurse asked me if I spoke Italian.  I said, “As a matter of fact, I do.” I entered a conference room with a long table. Around it were seated doctors, nurses, social workers, and friends from the deceased’s school. I also met the parents. After a long afternoon of translating, the parents asked me for a favor. After I heard what it was, I said I would be honored to do it. The next day, for the first time in my life, I said Mass in Italian and gave my first homily in Italian.

It took me six years to learn Italian when I was in Italy. For six years I stood in front of Italians with my mouth open, wondering what the heck they just said. For six years I pulled Italian dictionaries out of my pocket to look up words. For six years Italians would say: “Stop, stop talking, you are destroying our beautiful language.” For six years I wondered why I was putting so much time and effort into learning a language I probably would not use when I returned to the States.

After Mass, the parents came up to me, and they said, “We are absolutely convinced that God is going to take care of their daughter the same way He took care of us by sending you.” For many years I wondered why, but now I knew. God was setting us up to meet, He wanted me to be the one to help them. Paul tells the Thessalonians that God does that a lot. That is why he chooses us, to set us up to do something special. I wanted you to know this in case you, like me, have wondered.

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