Magic happened again today. A moment appeared this morning unplanned and unexpected and I allowed myself to slow down, recognize the moment and make magic happen. (see my other blog: ATM = Always Trust Magic)

Before I talk about the moment itself, I have to say that the moment almost didn’t happen. It was the confluence of many seemingly small, inconsequential and random decisions that came together and intersected into a magnificent purposeful moment of grace and magic.

I had come out of the Conversion Experience Retreat reborn with fresh eyes on Sunday night and a fresh set of commitments, but tired out from the retreat, I overslept on Monday morning and missed morning mass (one of my commitments). So on introspection, I decided I needed to be more intentional and looking at my schedule, started setting aside time in my calendar (including today) to attend morning mass.

However, my work calls ended at 4:30 am on Tuesday morning and I was unsure if I would really wake up. To make matters worse, when I did wake up at 6:30 am, after less than 2 hours sleep, it was raining and I was so tempted to take a rain-check (pardon the pun) and sleep in. I decided to snooze. But 5 minutes later, I woke up, did the necessary hygiene in 5 minutes, pulled on some presentable clothes and got to morning mass on time (at 6:55am!). And I consoled myself that I would have some time to sleep when I get home from mass.

My parish priest was delivering the mass. “How opportune,” I thought to myself. My work call that was scheduled for after the morning mass had been cancelled a few hours earlier and I thought perhaps, it was God’s plan for me to catch up with my parish priest to follow up on an action/question from the retreat as I now had a few hours on my hand. And as mass proceeded, I became very much awake, which I thought was another star falling into alignment with my plans.

Then I heard a familiar voice of an acquaintance/friend from church reading the morning psalms. It was so beautifully read, it stirred me. And so, I made a mental note to also say hi to the person after mass.

When mass ended, I hung around church and bumped into the parish priest first. He was busy immediately after mass so it was going to have to be a meeting scheduled at another time. Hmmm, so my plan got scrapped. Well, I would hang around and say hi to my friend before I go home I thought.

What followed a cheerful “Good Morning” was totally unexpected and absolutely beautiful. In an unplanned 2 hours breakfast after mass, I shared my experience from my retreat. And she needed exactly to hear what I had to share. She had been going through some very big challenges and had been suffering for 17 years under a lot of emotional anguish and had been praying so hard clinging to Jesus.

My sharing of my conversion experience, the gospel passages that touched me in the past few days spoke to what she had been struggling with and were similar to what the parish priests had been guiding her on. I was privileged with her sharing of her challenges and fears with me – something she would not have thought of sharing with a person that she has only met in mid February this year and which she has kept bottled for years.

When we parted ways, she told me she was light and happy for the first time in years. And she felt that God had answered her prayer intentions in terms of clarity of his plan for her and she was assured of God’s love. WOW! I was just brimming again with joy for being able to be a vessel of God’s grace and allowing his goodness to work through me.

Another magical day. So as I mentioned in my original ATM post, I believe all of us are presented with many moments like these every day, poignant with potential for magic. All that it requires is that we choose to slow down and recognize the moment and do something to make magic happen. Will you trust the magic?