January 6, 2023

Guest Column / Richard Etienne

Be on watch for little lessons from God in your everyday life

Richard EtienneI have a special needs son with autistic tendencies and limited mental capacity. He is approaching 37. I tell you this not for sympathy, but so that I might share just a couple of religious truths that he has taught me.

First, I vividly remember carrying him up to Communion with me when he was still quite young and apt to dart away when left to his own devices.

I remember receiving Communion and Eric asking, “Daddy, medicine?”

I could not help but think: what a wonderful image.

Isn’t the Eucharist that we consume like the medicine that he had taken nearly every day for his behavioral needs?

On another occasion, there was the lesson that he taught me on the meaning of true prayers of petition. That night, when I had knelt down next to his bed to pray with him and tuck him in, I asked him, “Who do you want to pray for?”

He immediately responded, “Hank?” Hank and the additional names that follow are my wife’s brothers, his uncles. “Who else?” “Mike.” “OK, who else?” “Chip.”

“Anyone else?” “Brad.” At this point, he yelled, “Hank, Mike, Chip, Brad, cook?”

Now, you have to understand that to my son’s understanding of the world, this was “as good as it gets!” He loves to grill with his uncles. This experience is the joy of all holidays rolled into one activity. And isn’t that how we ultimately spend much of our prayer time with God—in prayers of petition—letting God know what we want?

Lastly, Eric is known to shout the name of each person who arrives at a gathering. “Zach!” “Hank’s here!” I believe he would make a wonderful town crier in heaven.

In Scripture, we hear Jesus say, “Let the children come to me … for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mk 10:14).

My point is that we each have to constantly be on watch for little lessons from God in our everyday life. What lesson did God prepare for you today?

 

(Richard Etienne has a degree in theology from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad and resides in Newburgh, Ind.) †

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