The history of salvation is the history of God showing how much he cares.
We have all experienced God's closeness. Fr Philip Cascia (cash-uh), a priest from the Archdiocese of Hartford who recently passed away had a particularly memorable experience of it a few years ago.
During the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union seemed heading towards mutual nuclear destruction, Fr Philip started an organization called Intersport USA. Its goal was to advance world peace through international exchange programs for high school athletes.
- His memorable experience of God's closeness occurred during a trip to Vietnam in the early 1980s - one of his first attempts to get the program off the ground.
- Before he even landed, though, his plane was surrounded by communist fighter jets and escorted to a nearby military air base. Stern soldiers whisked Fr Philip from the plane into an interrogation room.
- A barrage of insults and accusations followed. But that was just the warm-up. Fr Phil could see the smugness in his captors' eyes as they waited for the commanding general.
- When the general arrived, a new verbal assault began. At its climax, the commander ordered all of the guards out of the room. Fr Cascia braced himself.
- Suddenly, when the soldiers had left the room, the general knelt down and kissed Father's hand.
- He said, "My mother always prayed that God send me a priest, no matter where I was. When I saw you get off the plane, I knew you were sent by God."
- Shocked and overjoyed, Father heard the general's confession. Then the general ordered the soldiers back in and resumed his interview with the supposed Vatican spy.
In the end, the general allowed Fr Philip to continue on his journey, and even re-fueled the plane.
Encouraged and grateful to God for this sign, Father continued laying the groundwork for his project, which in years to come would win him two nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yes, at times God may seem far away, because, after all, he's God, but in fact, he is much closer than we realize, because he cares.
[Story adapted from "Good News", a service of www.Catholic.net]