The week before a holiday, a fellow teacher asked me if I could help him get to the airport for a flight to Brazil after school on the last day of classes. The airport was in New York and we were in New Jersey, but we would be getting out of work early that day and the flight wasn’t until evening, so I said it would be fine.

Since we had four hours to make a 45-minute trip, we decided to have lunch with another teacher before departing. As our lunch started to take longer and longer, I began to worry about traffic, but the others didn’t think much about it. On the way to the airport, we hit a monster traffic jam. There was apparently an accident. I was in the wrong lane when we had a chance to get to the local lanes that were marginally faster, so I had to stay put. He was pretty upset, and I was trying not to say “I told you we should have left lunch sooner.”

My friend was really afraid he was going to miss the flight, and also miss a tough connection he had to make as well. I realized that I had to put the Gospel into practice for both of us. The Word of Life that month was:

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23).

This was my chance to embrace this cross and to love. I stayed upbeat through the trip and reassured him the whole way, even though I was a little scared, too. He calmed down gradually. We got to the airport with less than half an hour to spare. He left my car, and I just prayed he would still make the flight. It was a nail biter. After the holiday break, he recounted the saga. He said he ran the whole way, through check-in and security, and got on the plane with just moments to spare. He was very grateful for my calming influence, and he reported that the rest of the trip went well.

M. A.

Published with permission from Living City November 2009, the Focolare Movement's monthly magazine of religion, dialogue and culture | www.livingcitymagazine.com