“…Nearly all that we call human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” (C.S. Lewis).
Archibald Joseph Cronlin who died in 1981 explained his conversion to Catholicism, which occurred later in his life…
He was walking in Paris and became lost. As part of his attempt to find his way back to his original route, he stumbled across the Notre Dame cathedral. He thought the stained-glass windows looked beautiful and so he decided to go inside and have a look at it. Walking in he observed a commemoration of the tradition of Christ’s encounter with Saint Simon Peter.
Tradition tells us that when Saint Simon Peter was trying to escape from Rome one final time before his execution, during the time when Nero was killing Christians, he encountered an apparition of Christ. Seeing Christ at the gates of Rome, Saint Simon Peter asked, “Quo vadis, Domine?”, which means, “Where are you going Lord?” Christ answered the Saint, “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” Saint Simon Peter immediately understood what he had to do and turned back into Rome to allow himself to be re-captured and it was there that he died, crucified upside down on a cross...
Cronin explained, “I thought I heard a gentle whisper from over the centuries asking me: ‘Quo vadis?’ (‘Where are you going?’)’.” Cronin explained that he experienced such an emptiness and unhappiness and found that the only true happiness was in the Tabernacle…
“And immediately He left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered together about the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him followed him, and they found him and said to him, ‘Every one is searching for you.’ And he said to them, ‘Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.’ And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.” (Mark 1:29-39).
All those people were searching for Christ – for God Himself – and so many turning away and never seeing Him right there.
And they are no different from me, who fails to see God in front of me right in front of my eyes in all the countless miracles of my life…
C.S. Lewis said, “Everyone is searching for You!... nearly all that we call human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”
And today, I wonder if that is why I still look – am I trying to find something other than my God?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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