One God, many different tales

I have journeyed through life as a Catholic. My upbringing, my higher education, even my 30-year career - all Catholic. The important moments in my life have involved our sacraments, rituals and prayers. My closest companions have been Catholic.

So you might be surprised to learn that some of the people who have influenced my spiritual life are young Hindus, Jews and Muslims as well as other Christians. They are students involved in "Children at the Well," the interfaith storytelling project I co-direct. Their influence has come by way of their witness to their faith and the stories they choose to tell.

Ritam loves to tell the story of Mundababa, a devout Hindu, stranded in a flood, refusing help from people in a car, a boat and a helicopter, insisting that God will save him. When he dies, arrives in heaven and asks God why He didn't help him, he learns that it was God who sent the car, the boat and the helicopter. "Mundababa," God says, "Do you not know that when people on earth help each other, they are doing my work through their hands?" Whenever I think of this story, I wonder: What work am I doing for God?

Adah's story about the Princess of Light speaks of finding God's presence between the lines of the Holy Scriptures. Adah told this at her Bat Mitzvah five years ago, but I remember it like yesterday. Sometimes this story calls me back to attention when my mind wanders during the readings at Mass.

Khalafalla shares his story of beginning high school during the month of Ramadan; of going to the library instead of the cafeteria during lunchtime. As he speaks, I picture him going through his day with nothing to eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. I am amazed by his commitment and self-discipline. I tell him a story of breaking fast at the end of Lent when I was young and then find myself making resolutions for the next Lenten season.

Matt, a Catholic eighth-grader, tells the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish priest who volunteered to die in place of a stranger (a married man with children) in Auschwitz. Matt's story is an instant lesson in sainthood for his interfaith friends. They are left in awe of Maximilian's incredible faith and courage. I am left thinking, "For what, for whom would I offer my life?

There are many other examples. Each of the students in Children at the Well touches and inspires me in his or her own special way. They are gifts for my spirit, constant reminders that there are great riches to be found in diversity; that although we walk on many different paths, we can share the journey.

Come meet and be inspired by young people such as these at Children at the Well's annual event on Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady. Stories, Israeli dancers, homemade treats and an interfaith mixer will be featured. For more information, go to www.ChildrenAtTheWell.org.

(Gert Johnson, a retired teacher of religious studies at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School, is facilitator of the interfaith story circle of the tri-city area and co-director of Children at the Well.)

(12-10-09)