Rain, Trees Falling, Prayer and God’s Will

Today is the Feast of Blessed Rupert Mayer, SJ. Here is a prayer that is attributed to him:

Lord, let happen whatever You will;

and as You will, so will I walk,

help me only to know Your will!

Lord, whenever You will,

then is the time,

today and always

Lord, whatever You will,

I wish to accept,

and whatever You will for me is gain,

enough that I belong to You.

Lord, because You will it, it is right,

and because You will it, I have courage.

My heart rests safely in Your hands!

Amen

We have been praying for rain. And how it came! Historic rainfall blanketed the San Francisco Bay area and it felt good to see that much rain fall. But it knocked out our electricity when we were supposed to be meeting by Zoom, it kept people from traveling here, and the next day in a déjà vu moment a tree fell and damaged the roof of one of our buildings. In the last significant rainfall that we had, the same happened in another spot on our property.

For a week, chainsaws buzzed all day, as the tree was reduced to massive piles of logs and limbs. It took the whole week to clean up the area. Fixing the building will take longer.

We wanted the rain, not the damage. Why pray for rain? We share all our concerns with God. We try to live everything in our hearts in the Lord, too. God sends the rain and the fallen trees into our lives. Then we live a beautiful new reality with God—the rain blesses us, the damage we work through with God’s help. As Fr. Mayer write: “whatever you will for me is gain/enough that I belong to you.”

Fr. John Auther, SJ is a Jesuit for 42 years and a priest for almost 30 years. In his pastoral ministry he has devoted a good deal of time to Spanish-speaking work, detention facilities and retreats. He began working at JRC in January 2020.