Do You Have a CC?

            I’ve had a CC now for two years or so. It’s the name I chose for my cane: Constant Companion. At times, when I have a short distance to go, for example from one part of a room to another part, I go without it. It’s more daring to go from one room to another room – then realize I don’t have it! Where was I last? Where did I leave it? St. Anthony, help me find my CC – again!

             After a while, I came to a new realization: I’ve always had a CC – all my life, whose name is Jesus. How much better to live with Him in mind, to know that this need is so much stronger than a cane!

            In addition to a guardian angel, I walk with Jesus at my side. He prays with me, as we glorify and thank our Father together for a pretty day, a much-needed rainfall, a safe trip out and back again, healing for a member of my family or anyone else. He’s at my side in the presence of the other Sisters at mealtime, at Mass, and Liturgy of the Hours; in the students I teach, in the kind and considerate co-workers at school. I know His healing presence in those who care for me in the infirmary, and in the doctors that I see.

            Sometimes He is asking me to be patient with others, and with myself, sometimes to share a splinter from His cross. I hear His word proclaimed in liturgy with a message of love, sometimes chastisement, sometimes consolation and hope, especially now in the Advent season. We look forward to celebrate His first coming on Christmas, but in the meantime, Jesus sneaks up on us in so many surprising ways. After all, He said, “Be ready; you don’t know the day or the hour.”

            So now, CC is a reminder of my Constant Companion who is Jesus, always and everywhere. I dare not leave Him behind, for then I truly cannot walk to reach eternal life in His kingdom.

                        Sr. Mary Carol Hellmann, OSB