The Day My Faith Was Questioned
- Category: Gospel Truth
- Date 02-10-2016
- 226 views
I had followed the gospel as proclaimed on Sunday. Therefore, I decided to put it in practice when an opportunity arose. The parable of the Good Samaritan shows that a man who was battered by robbers was rescued from death by a stranger who bandaged his wounds, took him for treatment and paid all the related bills (Luke 10:25-35). Yes, stranger was merciful to the victim of attack. After I had heard this story again, I borrowed a leaf and decided to help someone recently.
I was travelling to Mbarara alone but stopped at Busega, near Kampala, to replenish the gas and check-up other aspects of the car. Here, I came face-to-face with what I imagined was an angel of God, in form of a woman. Sitting at the restaurant by the fuel station, the seemingly well-bred woman who also looked old enough to be my mother was waiting to board a car by which she could travel to Mbarara. As I was taking the same route, I saw it as a privilege to offer a ‘lift’ while, at the same time, she would give me company during the journey.
We set off at about nine o’clock in the morning and I proposed that my newfound acquaintance could carry out a brief task while I concentrated on driving. I asked her to lead a prayer and she cheerfully agreed. She expressively invoked the Almighty to shower us with journey mercies; to bless me - the car owner - for the kindness I had exhibited; and to travel along with us to our ultimate destinations. I deduced from her articulation that she was a very serious Christian but my suspicion grew stronger that I could be travelling with either an angel or Jesus Himself.
Along the way, my fellow traveller displayed appreciation that I had saved her from stressful waiting as she had been on the same spot for nearly an hour. She told me that it was an act of God that I had not merely seen her but also accepted to travel with her in my car.
I asked teasingly, “Do you call me God? Am I an angel of God? Or did God tell you He would send me to take you?” She told me that I was a mere human being (very correct) and added that I was guided by the Holy Spirit to where she was so that she would not wait any longer. I asked, “Why did God care about you so much?” She answered concisely, “I am saved!”
Earlier in the month, I had been discussing with my family how Jesus Christ had walked alongside two disciples - Cleopas and another - on the road to Emmaus and how they had not recognised him until late (Luke 24:13-29). I believed that the Emmaus episode was common knowledge, especially for a person like my passenger who boasted that she knew and lived by Scripture.
I told her, “I am blessed because you might be Jesus I am travelling with.” On hearing this, she protested saying, “No! I am not Jesus. But I know Jesus!” I told her that I was sure Jesus was in the car travelling with us. “You never know, I could be Jesus but may be you have not seen me properly,” I claimed. She again said I could not be Jesus. Then I asked, “Do you remember when the disciples, going to Emmaus, walked with Jesus but could not recognise him?”
To my surprise, she had no idea about the Emmaus story. However, I was impressed when she pulled a Bible from her handbag and challenged me tell her where to find the Emmaus episode. I told her the chapter and verses, which she read out in a loud, astounded voice. Thereafter, we agreed that one of us might be Jesus! She then told me that I was a very good man but she had noticed I was a Catholic since I had made a sign of the cross as we prayed. “You lack only one thing,” she counselled, “You should get saved!”
I asked, “What makes a Catholic less Christian than you?” She replied, “Catholics do not follow the Bible. For example, they pray for the dead yet it is not written in the Bible.” I probed further, “Does it offend God at all that we pray for the dead? Does it harm the dead person when we pray?” She stared at me for some time and said, “It is a waste of time because the person has already died a sinner.”
Quoting Jesus Christ, I said that Catholics are guided by Scripture which says, “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:26). During Mass, I continued, we share in the divinity of Jesus who said, “I am the living bread …. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:50-52). Therefore, our prayers are not for the dead; rather, they are for our companions who are simply transformed by God to another state.
I emphasised that Catholics believe in eternal life, “……for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36). Therefore, I concluded, a true Catholic cannot die!
Venansio Ahabwe is a lay Christian from the Archdiocese of Mbarara
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: Gospel Truth, Leadership Magazine