I don’t believe in coincidence. From my perspective, anything that someone would consider a coincidence is God making His presence known.

Last Friday was the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and one of the churches in my area provided the opportunity for a two hour Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as a way to mark this holy day. Since it started at 5 PM, I did need to log off of work early in order to make my way over to the church. Even the normal weekly Wednesday Adoration, which they have for an hour and starts at 6 PM, can be a struggle for me to get to on-time based on how work is going. It also has a portion that is private prayer followed by communal evening vespers. At times I miss having a whole silent hour before the Blessed Sacrament like when I lived in Pennsylvania, so the possibility of visiting Jesus in the Sacrament for at least a whole hour in private meditation made me very excited. I felt lucky that there were no last minute surprises at work and was able to power down and arrive at the church for the beginning of Adoration. The seminarian assigned to the parish often leads Adoration and for special occasions prepares handouts that we follow for vespers. As he is also a trained cantor, he took the opportunity to make this Adoration special by chanting the entire vespers (in English) followed by the Litany of the Sacred Heart (in Latin). It seemed like joy was just pouring out of me, I was so delighted to spend the time with Jesus and then sing His praises. It was like heaven on earth for those moments. 

As extraordinary as that experience was, it was what happened on the ride home that really made me feel even closer to Jesus. Driving from that direction, there are a set of train tracks I need to pass over to get to my home. I cross them often enough to get to church, the post office, taking Vera to the vet, etc. This time, as I was going over and experiencing the normal vibrations that crossing over these tracks produce, I caught a flicker of movement from some prayer cards I have tucked in the car’s visor. I put my hand up to prevent anything from falling, but regardless one of the cards did, landing on my chest. As I was very close to my home, I picked it up and held it, so that it would not fall further and get trampled underfoot or forgotten. I have a few cards tucked there and they have never moved, no matter how many times I’ve crossed those tracks so I was surprised that this happened. After navigating through my development and parking, I took a look at the card I was holding. It was one I had forgotten was there, since I had placed other cards in front of it. The card? It was from the Sacred Heart of Jesus Auto League. This card specifically had the words “Sacred Heart,” the one and the same reason I was just at Adoration to celebrate and praise, and landed on my chest near to my heart. No, I refuse to call that a coincidence. That was a hug from God. (If you want to call it a God Wink, that works too.) 

If I perceived what happened as just a coincidence, that allows me to brush it off as an oddity that is unimportant. But I think God communicates to us all the time, and we, myself included, can be deaf to the language He uses or we make excuses so that we can think we are in control of everything. Why did it have to happen then? Why was it that particular prayer card that fell? Why did it land on my chest instead of fluttering to the floor or my lap? There are many other outcomes that could have happened, but God chose that one. For some it may be too subtle to equate to being from the hand of God, yet for me, it was more like a bonk on the head with a foam mallet — gentle enough not to hurt, but too obvious for me to ignore. 

So take a moment and reflect: how has God communicated with you today? Are you looking to dialog with Him? Do you ask for the wisdom to understand His communication? Is your heart and soul open to what God is saying to you? Sometimes He may be guiding you or comforting you. Sometimes He just wants to say “hello” or even “I love you.” But unless we are on the lookout for His communication, we may miss the unique and little ways that God is using to interact with us. 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”   

Matthew 6:33