Finding a date for the homecoming dance your freshman year in high school is challenging. This is especially true when you attend an all-male high school. This was my case when I was a freshman at St. Francis de Sales School in Toledo, OH. Luckily, I was in the band! The marching band consisted of guys from St. Francis and girls from our two neighboring sister schools. In the fall, the band traveled to a local rollercoaster park, Cedar Point. I decided I would ask a girl from the band to the homecoming dance during our trip to Cedar Point. As a romantic, I thought there would be no better place to ask than on a hill of a rollercoaster.
Of course I was nervous so I waited until the final rollercoaster of the night, the Blue Streak, before making a move. Standing in line waiting to board the rollercoaster, I discovered some logistical challenges. I knew the girl I wanted to ask to the dance, but how do I make sure we are next to one another on the rollercoaster? I came up with a plan in my mind of where I would need to stand so I could sit next to her on the ride. I moved into position and thought, “If he stands there, and she doesn’t move, then I need to stand there so I can be next to her.” The plan worked! I sat right next to my potential date. As we started going up the first hill I asked her to homecoming dance. She said, “Yes.”
The best part of the story happened a few years later. I was talking to the same girl and explaining to her the lengths I went to just to sit next to her on that rollercoaster. She looked at me and said, “Joe, I was doing the same thing!” As much as I was trying to sit next to her, she was trying to sit next to me.
I share this story every autumn with my students when we read St. Francis’ favorite book in the bible, the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs details the journey of two lovers as they search for one another. Francis saw this liturgical book as a description of his experience of God. We may feel like we are constantly trying to be next to God, but the great insight comes when we realize that we have a God who looks back at us and says, “Joe, I am trying to do the same thing!” For Francis, we do not need to go searching for God because God is right here. Our God is constantly coming to us, pursuing us, and trying to sit next to us. If I did all that for a date to the homecoming dance, imagine the things our God is doing to be next to you. The search is over, we have been found, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Be found!
May God be praised!
Fr. Joe Newman, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo- Detroit Province
