Mtr Mary Trainor

Just like a blind man, I wandered along*
Dear friend,
Today I am focused on a man whose name I have never heard, who lived and died half a world away in the last decade of the 19th century: Bernard Mizeki.
In pondering where to start with today’s reflection, I first checked out the Daily Office readings. No spark. I then turned to readings offered in remembrance of a “lesser”** saint, Bernard Mizecki. Those readings didn’t inspire either. Until. Until I checked out Bernard’s story.

Worries and fears, I claimed for my own…

Bernard was a teacher so dedicated to his calling that he stayed in a place where he was most unwelcome, and where locals were pushing back on government requirements in a difficult time. Mizecki was ordered to safety. But he stood his ground, empowered by the love of Christ.

On the night of June 18, 1896, Mizeki was dragged from his home and stabbed. His wife found him still alive and went for help. 

According to one resource: “She and others reported seeing a great white light over that place, and a loud noise ‘like many wings of great birds.’”

Bernard's body had disappeared by their return.

Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight…

I can only imagine witnessing the scene: the light, and a noise like the wings of many great birds, making holy the ground saturated with Bernard’s blood as he lay dying.

If you’re anything like me, you might have an account or two that you call “God moments,” times when God’s presence was undeniable. You could never prove it in a court of law. You may have never shared it with your closest friend. But you know. You just know.

Praise the Lord, I saw the light

Mtr Mary

*I Saw The Light, Hank Williams. 1947.
** Lesser Feasts and Fasts: Bernard Mizeki, Catechist and Martyr in Rhodesia, 1896