Oh how our Lord surprises us, when we least expect it. One can never hide from Him, as He is everywhere. Hiding in plain sight.

My husband has been dealing with knee issues, since he retired from the Marines a few years back. For the past few weeks, he has had some serious pain, even waking him up at night, along with keeping him up. He finally had enough and called the VA to make an appointment. I drove him to the VA here in San Diego, and found myself unable to get a parking spot. So I dropped him off at the front doors, and continued to look for somewhere to park. A spot never opened large enough for my husbands car, so I corresponded with him, getting updates via text messages, as I parked a few blocks away from where he was. I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t see what he was going through, but I prayed. He was there for about an hour, and discharged. We had to drive up to the VA hospital in La Jolla, so he could get a knee brace and some other things. It actually was rather quick. Please keep Mark in your prayers, as we wait for a diagnosis, and for what our next step may be for him.

As we got to La Jolla, he realized it was much easier for him to access healthcare he needed there, rather than the one closer to our home. The parking was not cramped, and if for some reason, I was unable to take him, he could find a parking spot and not miss his appointment.

We walked into the hospital and could see a Starbucks, a good sized Military gift shop and many souls in need of prayers and healing. The women at the information counter told us where to go, and we began a long walk to where my husband needed to pick up his items. My eyes lit up when we got to the Hospital Chapel. It was just after noon when we arrived, and they had Catholic Mass celebrated at 11:30 AM. Not just that day, but every day but Saturday. I was not expecting this at all as our day began and quite honestly, wished we had made it sooner, so we could attend.

I said to my husband that I would love to go inside to see it. I could not see inside as the entrance was a solid door. We continued on to where my husband needed to go without looking in. As we got to the prosthetic’s department, he had to go in to be fitted for his brace and told me to go and check out the Chapel while I waited for him and I jumped at the chance.

As I walked in, I was awestruck. Instantly thoughts of our Lord on the Cross, came to me, as Thee Wounded Warrior. You see, He was there, right there in that room.

He survived the battle of death, and defeated the enemy, once and for all. He lives today, to tell us all about it, to all who would listen. I was so awestruck, I could do nothing but listen with my heart. I seen in my thoughts, so many things that I could never put into words. How many hospitals & nursing homes I had been to with Him, bringing Him to the sick,  and this was His room, in this place.

I walked into the Adoration Chapel, immediately falling to my knees and began to pray for all the souls there, and others. I sat in silence, unable to think of anything but Him. He was here! Do others know? How is it that so many walk by without even noticing? I wanted to grab all the souls I seen and take them to Him.

There is a frustration that I have, which I see how souls can not see Him there, just as it wasn’t that long ago, neither would I have. There are days I want to SCREAM what is wrong with souls who don’t believe, but don’t.  Because I know, I didn’t either and forcing anyone to understand this, is not how our Lord works.

My little time with our Lord, the Wounded Warrior, was about to end here, but His time will not. This moment will be imprinted on my heart and I will be unable to forget it. Its just another moment of finding Him in places which we never assume He might be. Oh, but He is. Hidden in plain sight.

From the treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr
(Lib. 4, 6, 3. 5. 6. 7: SC 100, 442. 446. 448-454)

Knowledge of the Father consists in the self-revelation of the Son

No one can know the Father apart from God’s Word, that is, unless the Son reveals him, and no one can know the Son unless the Father so wills. Now the Son fulfills the Father’s good pleasure: the Father sends, the Son is sent, and he comes. The Father is beyond our sight and comprehension; but he is known by his Word, who tells us of him who surpasses all telling. In turn, the Father alone has knowledge of his Word. And the Lord has revealed both truths. Therefore, the Son reveals the knowledge of the Father by his revelation of himself. Knowledge of the Father consists in the self-revelation of the Son, for all is revealed through the Word.

The Father’s purpose in revealing the Son was to make himself known to us all and so to welcome into eternal rest those who believe in him, establishing them in justice, preserving them from death. To believe in him means to do his will.

Through creation itself the Word reveals God the Creator. Through the world he reveals the Lord who made the world. Through all that is fashioned he reveals the craftsman who fashioned it all. Through the Son the Word reveals the Father who begot him as Son. All speak of these things in the same language, but they do not believe them in the same way. Through the law and the prophets the Word revealed himself and his Father in the same way, and though all the people equally heard the message not all equally believed it. Through the Word, made visible and palpable, the Father was revealed, though not all equally believed in him. But all saw the Father in the Son, for the Father of the Son cannot be seen, but the Son of the Father can be seen.

The Son performs everything as a ministry to the Father, from beginning to end, and without the Son no one can know God. The way to know the Father is the Son. Knowledge of the Son is in the Father, and is revealed through the Son. For this reason the Lord said: No one knows the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son has revealed him. The word “revealed” refers not only to the future—as though the Word began to reveal the Father only when he was born of Mary; it refers equally to all time. From the beginning the Son is present to creation, reveals the Father to all, to those the Father chooses, when the Father chooses, and as the Father chooses. So, there is in all and through all one God the Father, one Word and Son, and one Spirit, and one salvation for all who believe in him.