Beyond the Clouds by Fr. Jacob Nampudakam, S.A.C. | Page 87

We all have likely encountered turbulence during flights at some time or
another. On occasions, the Captain informs the passengers in anticipation of
the impending disturbance, while in other instances, we can also be caught
unaware. I have heard of an airplane going down as many as 30 meters during
a flight over Goa, India. By the grace of God, the plane withstood the pressure
of the sudden loss in altitude, and continued its journey onward unscathed.
The passengers, however, surely had their stomach turned upside down!
The worst turbulence that I experienced was in a small plane when flying
between the Caribbean islands of Barbados and Santa Lucia. The runway itself
was as long as a courtyard, and the small plane took off like a eagle. Seated
right in the front of the plane, I could see its nose plunging into very thick,
dark clouds. The flight itself was as good as a bullock cart ride in the North
Indian Pallottine mission of Kutela in 1974, when I was sent there as a minor
seminarian for mission experience! The Pilot was not perturbed a bit, as it was
his daily routine to fly the small plane in that area. However, I was
undoubtedly strengthened in my faith in God with such a flight.
In real life, too, we all hit air pockets at some time or another. It can be
sudden and totally unexpected. If the seatbelt is fastened, often we escape
unhurt. If not, it can injure or even kill us; as we are often only left with a
fraction of a second to react.
As I write these lines, we are preparing ourselves for the first Sunday of
Advent tomorrow. The Gospel’s message is that we must be vigilant for the
coming of the Son of Man. We need to watch and pray when we see
extraordinary signs which almost indicate the end of the world. Wars,
violence, earthquakes, fires, rains… these all represent disharmony, and the
human destabilization of natural order, against the intention of the Creator
Himself.
“Superficially, apart from a few obvious signs of pollution and deterioration,”
Pope Francis writes in his Encyclical, On The Care for Our Common Home,
“things do not look that serious, and the planet could continue as it is for some
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