Beyond the Clouds by Fr. Jacob Nampudakam, S.A.C. | Page 57

As the history of the lives of saints show, each one of us may be attracted to
some specific aspect of Jesus’ life. Such particular attraction may be the fruit
of our unique personality, personal story, and the conditions of which we are
placed. We can look to the examples of St. Francis of Assisi to the poor Jesus;
St. Vincent Pallotti to Jesus, Apostle of the Eternal Father; and St. Therese of
Lisieux to the adorable, Infant Jesus. If we go deep into ourselves, we will
discover that some aspect of Jesus’ life has touched us in a more profound way.
There is some guiding value and ideal in the life of each of us.
For me, Jesus’ birth in the manger, His life of poverty until death on the
Cross, His compassionate heart that pulsed for people who were hungry, His
profound empathy towards the broken persons, the Paschal Mystery of His
suffering, death, and resurrection, are all values that have determined my
experience of Jesus. Hence when I go on Visitations, the most important
matters to be discussed are not the buildings and finances, but rather our call
to an authentic Christian life.
Again, let us turn toward St. Francis. When he received a call from God that
said, “go, rebuild My house,” it was not to rebuild the beautiful basilica that
now stands. No, it was to give his life radically for the Lord and His Church,
becoming a testimony that lives forever. Francis shows us that a Christian’s
foundation is not built upon man-made concrete, but rather living stones
beside one another that follow the values of the Gospel. This is the foundation
of God; the only foundation that survives the tests of storms and times.
In these storms, the pilot can likely make an error, causing the plane to drop
in altitude without our knowledge. But with the Lord no harm will prevail,
and it will be soon brought back to cruising altitude. In spiritual terms, it is
the process of daily discernment that enables us to maintain the safe, spiritual
altitude. As St. Ignatius of Loyola would say, we need to keep watching the
movement of the good spirit and the bad spirit, making necessary adjustments
along the way.
This leads to the one quality that is so essential for a captain, as well as anyone
57