May 10th, 2009

My Father’s family was not known for subtlety. Nonno Giovanni, (grandfather John) loved bright colours, especially red, and was more likely than not to paint anything, from clocks to light-switch plates, that colour. Then, not satisfied with one colour, he would adorn his paint-job with yellow and green frilly bits, just because. He was also the one most likely to turn forks, corks and napkins into a vast array of toys and modes of entertainment for we kids in the crowd, much to the very loud dismay of my grandmother, Nonna Olga.
Mind you, it wasn’t just Nonno’s dinner time antics that provoked noisy discussion between him and Nonna. Just about any topic worth talking about, from what was for breakfast to who to vote for was worth doing with lots of yelling and depending on the occasion, laughter. Subtlety is not in my father’s bloodline.
Nonna Olga, however, took the cake, especially when my aunt, Zia Marcella was around. Had Zia Marcella not become a nun, I’m sure she would have been a comedian. As it is, she is one of the happiest, funniest (in good way) servants God has ever known. With this in mind, you can see how, together with my Nonna, all subtlety, (and often dignity) went out the window.
The best example of their over the top behaviour was seen whenever Nonna was about to make her entrance. Whether it was first thing in the morning, or after her nap, my Nonna entering the room was like a comic opera of noise and laughter. Zia Marcella would loudly, proudly announce every step of the operation. The Nonna is awake! (a little louder) The Nonna is washing! The Nonna is dressing! The Nonna is coming down the hall! And then, finally, with the biggest flourish of all, The Nonna is here!!! All of which was accompanied by the outrageously loud laughter and commentary of The Nonna herself. A Three Ring Circus had nothing on the Giurin family spectacle.
Now, as yo might expect, as a servant of God, I try my best to honour our Lord, in a way the honours who I am. Thus subltey is not always in the cards for me. Jesus, however, is often very subtle in the way He enters our lives. Far from His proclaim His every step proclaimed with great fanfare, He comes to us quietly and without fanfare. It’s in the loving touch one friend offers another at just the right moment. He’s a stranger knocking at our door. He’s a child in search of a lap or a thirsty one needing water. Sometimes His presence is even more subtle; sometimes it is in simply in the silent words of unspoken prayers we aren’t even aware of as being a conversation with God. Sometimes, in the most subtle and yet wonderful way of all, Jesus is there in our pain, not shielding us from it, but bearing it with us.
To know this in our heads is not necessarily to feel it in our hearts. It takes a bit of effort on our parts to really recognize those moments when Christ is with us, when He has arrived. But as we get our head knowledge down into a heart-understanding, we begin to realize that far from Jesus just making an occasional appearance in our lives, He is with us every moment God grants us. Without a grand a entrance, noise and fuss, without so much as a laughing aunt, Jesus is always with us, if we are open to His presence. At least that’s the way I see it.