Whenever I get discouraged— and lately it happens a lot after I read the news—I try to think of people I’ve met who are what they call “powers of example” in 12 Step programs. You could say they’re my “spiritual powers of example.”
Imagine this scenario: Several times a day, I’ll shake my head in disappointment at the way things are going in the world and wonder if it will ever get better. But that disappointment is dispelled when I cross paths with someone who brings light into the darkness. I’m convinced God sends certain people to give me encouragement, which is something all followers of Christ need from time to time in our aggressively secular society.
These “spiritual powers of example” are people of no real worldly consequence. No politicians, no celebrities, no corporate leaders, no social activists. No one of particular prominence.
They come in all shapes and sizes, but they generally share one fundamental characteristic— they “put God first in everything they do.” Those aren’t my words. I borrowed them from actor Denzel Washington’s commencement address at Dillard University, when he told the graduates the most important thing they could do in their lives was to put God first in everything. I’ve never heard a celebrity say that before.
That approach to life is a common denominator of the people Jesus sends my way to revive my hope. Some of them are young men and women committed to Christ, who make me realize that despite all the hubbub about the so-called “nones” turning away from religion, Jesus is at work, doing what he does best, making all things right. Never doubt that Jesus is always at work despite what the state of the world makes you think.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are the nonagenarians, those women and men in their 90s, who after all these years are still working for Christ in the vineyard.
One fellow I recently met is turning 100 in a few weeks and still plays golf, but more importantly, he still goes to daily Mass. He’s a true hero. When he was 19, he flew bombing missions over Nazi Germany.
Another person who inspires me recently passed away at 93— Sister Catherine Theresa Sottak.
For a long time, my wife Sandy tried to track her down because we hadn’t heard from her. Then, earlier this year, she opened a letter from New Hampshire with her obituary. Sister had died February 7, 2023. The obituary, which her sister sent, told the remarkable story of woman who entered the Daughters of the Holy Spirit at 16 and spent her life without fanfare working in the vineyard for Christ, all over the world.
She taught in Alabama, where she was principal of a Catholic school, and later in Burlington, Vt., Bridgeport and other cities. She went into nursing and worked with migrants in Maryland. In 1983, she became a missionary and traveled to Nigeria, where she served in a pre-natal clinic. She was also active in a ministry to the poor in Alabama and Haiti, before returning to the provincial house in Putnam, Conn.
Sandy met Sister Catherine while she was a visiting nurse, caring for a teenager in a coma for seven years after a boating accident. They were both in a healing prayer ministry.
The obituary confirmed what she already knew, that Sister Catherine was the most saintly woman she’d ever known.
If we ever had doubts about our faith, being in the presence of Sister Catherine immediately dispelled them. She was everything we’re called to be as Catholics, but can never quite achieve.
One other thing. Everyone who knew her would always say Sister Catherine was surrounded by the scent of roses. That, the Church teaches, is called the “odor of sanctity” — a sweet and pure aroma of flowers that lets you know you’re in the presence of a holy person.
The night before she and Sandy flew to Venezuela on a pilgrimage, Sister Catherine stayed at our home. In the morning, I immediately noticed that the bedroom smelled of roses, and I couldn’t resist asking her the obvious question, “Sister, do you wear perfume?”
She smiled and promptly responded, “Oh, no. Never.” All the good she did in her life and the number of people she touched are incalculable. Only God knows for sure. But her guiding principle was simple. She put God first in everything she did.
Sister Catherine, pray for us.
