God-incidences

1. Today is the Twenty-First Sunday in “Ordinary Time.”
2. The readings from Mass speak about the papacy (cf. Is 22:19-23 & Mt 16:13-20).
3. Today [would be] the feast day of St. Piux X, pope (Sundays take precedence over other feast days).
4. Today Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the closing liturgy in Koln at World Youth Day.

It might be coincidental that all these papal diddies are occurring at the same time, but not likely. My lovely bride calls it a “God-incidence” when something like that happens.

The philosopher in me rebels slightly:

• God doesn’t make things happen that way
• That would violate free will,
• Etc., etc., ad nauseum

But the Christian inside me is slightly tickled. Maybe God allows things to play out in such a way, just to make life a bit more interesting. Or maybe to make philosophers think a little harder. Or perhaps to simply bring a smile to someone’s face when they encounter such an event.

Our God is an awesome God.