A couple of weeks ago, we drove out to take care of the garden on a Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning at 3:28 am, I received a text message from our son who was at home: “There is a mouse upstairs that somehow is capable of making enough noise to wake me up (because it did, and after thinking someone was in the house and taking a look upstairs I saw a darting mouse-sized shadow in the guest room doorway headed for the closet).” Apparently that was the end of sleep for him that night.
We returned home on Wednesday afternoon. After going to bed that evening, I was awakened around 10:30 pm. My wife was on her cell phone—our son was calling her from down the hall. The mouse was back!
Apparently our son felt something on his arm and brushed it off. When he sat up in bed and shined his phone flashlight on his legs he saw the mouse sitting on his covers. The mouse fled and climbed up the curtains. This is when our son began calling us on the phone. My ringer must have been turned down, as I did not wake up. The call to my wife did wake her up, and in turn me.
The mouse then climbed down and made his way around the room, eventually appearing again on top of a ship on our son’s desk. The mouse climbed up the sail mast, perching there like a watchman. At this point, our son tried to capture him in a box. My wife screamed when the mouse instead ran towards her at the bedroom door. This is when I got out of bed.
Groggy from sleep, I quickly became aware that we were on a mouse hunt. The mouse was loose in his bedroom! One of the dogs decided it would be fun to hunt for the mouse as well. The two men and the dog were now looking for the mouse. Suddenly there it was, running across the room. My wife made some more noise and ran out of the room. Profanity started escaping from my lips as we tried to catch it. The dog kept sniffing it out and flushing it into the open. It was chaos.
We built a small barrier across the threshold of the door. I grabbed a small box in the hope of dropping it on the mouse. The dog was going around the room sniffing out the mouse. Suddenly it appeared again and hopped over the barricade at the door and fled down the stairs. I pursued the mouse, trying to figure out how to capture it under the box. The mouse turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, ran into the kitchen, and escaped under the refrigerator. We decided to duct tape the space around the bottom of the fridge to trap the mouse and began debating solutions.
Deciding on sticky traps as a way to catch the mouse if it ran out from under the fridge, I set off for the only open grocery store in town at 11:35 pm. Mission unsuccessful—no sticky traps. I returned a half hour later with some old fashioned mouse traps, which were unlikely to be of much help.
On my arrival home close to midnight, I found the dog busy sniffing around the living room. Apparently the mouse had escaped his prison under the refrigerator and was on the loose again. The dog tracked the mouse back upstairs to our son’s room—we were back where we started! The dog flushed the mouse out again and he went under the bed.
In the interim, my wife had tracked down a butterfly net from our son’s childhood and it became my weapon of choice. I kneeled down in the doorway and waited. Meanwhile, my wife was in our bedroom with her face in her hands and had started praying for the intercession of St. Martin de Porres for us to catch the mouse. (See his story here.)
Looking from my perch on the floor, I could see her praying. I turned and looked at the mouse sitting under the bed. Suddenly, he ran out and sat down right in front of me. I dropped the net on him and the chase was over.
We placed the mouse in a box and our son escorted him on a long walk out of the neighborhood. He was resettled in a park. The dog continued to sniff around the house to make sure the mouse was gone. I went back to bed. Peace returned to the house.
Over the next several days, we reflected on what had happened and what spiritual lessons might be taken away from the experience. If one views the entire mouse incident as a “micro” version of so many difficult events in our lives, we start to see some spiritual truths emerge.
First, God does not always prevent storms or chaos from breaking out in our lives. That is part of the fallen human experience. Life is difficult. Each of us has a cross to carry. That does not mean, however, that God is not with us in the storm. We should have faith.
Second, we may not initially react in a Godly way to the storm. I am not particularly proud of the expletive that escaped my lips when the mouse first ran by my feet. Again, we are human. We sin out of weakness. Lord have mercy on me, a sinner! Our Lord is generous with His mercy and forgives those with a contrite heart.1
Third, God expects us to face the storms in life with prudence and use the resources available to us. Our dear friend Fr. Robert DeGrandis (RIP) used to love to tell jokes. One joke was about the person stranded in the flood on the roof of their house who turns down help from people coming by in boats because “God is going to save me.” After the person drowns in the flood, they ask God why He didn’t help. He answers, “I sent you the people in the boats.” Sometimes we are looking for the spiritual solution when God has provided the solution in the natural.
Finally, there is an appointed time for prayer and deliverance. The Holy Spirit moved my wife to begin praying at a certain point in the process. It was the appointed time. The deliverance was prompt — the mouse came out and stopped in front of me. Using the tool I had in hand, I was able to capture it. Praise God! The storm was over.
We see a similar pattern in the Gospel story of Jesus calming the storm. Even with Jesus in the boat, the disciples encounter a violent storm.2 The disciples are filled with fear while they battle the storm. The boat starts filling with water. They cry out to Jesus for help. He awakens, rebukes the wind, and calms the storm.
Jesus Stills a Storm
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them, just as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him. And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”3
“The episode at sea signifies the drama of the Christian life. All of God’s children embark with Christ on a life that is full of dangerous storms, especially attacks from evil spirits and temptations of the flesh. We must learn to trust in Christ daily, since he alone can restrain these forces and bring us to the safe harbor of salvation.”4
When you face the inevitable storms and chaos that are stirred up in life, I pray that you would remember that as a baptized Christian in the state of grace, Jesus is within you — He is in the boat with you, so to speak. Strive to recollect yourself in the storm and make an act of faith. Repent of any failings. Be attentive to the Holy Spirit, who prompts us to pray at the appointed time.
Have courage and faith! God is faithful. The storm will pass and God will continue to be with us after the storm.
Here are a couple of songs if you enjoy listening to Christian music. My favorite line in this first song is, “The waves and wind still know His name.” (It Is Well, Kristene DiMarco.)
The song Praise You In This Storm also seemed appropriate the share with this post.
Eric A. Welter is an employment lawyer and trial attorney with a long-time devotion to intercessory prayer. He is a Catholic Christian who has been involved with intercessory and healing prayer ministry for over twenty years. The Abound in Hope Ministry website is https://www.aboundinhope.org/ministry.
Eric’s books on prayer are available in paperback or e-book format on amazon.com.
Effective Intercession for Our Loved Ones: Power Tools for Prayer.
(Available on amazon.com in paperback or Kindle.)
Effective Intercession for Ourselves: “Power Tools” for Prayer (Part Two). (Available on amazon.com in paperback or Kindle.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, the Greek word used for storm is seismos, which literally means earthquake. It is also translated in the Strong’s concordance as a tempest, which is a violent windstorm.
The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, at 73, note on Mark 4:35-41 (citing St. Augustine, Sermo 51) (2d Ed.).