THREE TIMES: 

THIS  CAN’T  BE A COINCIDENT 

[The title of my story for this 5th Sunday in Lent - Year B is, “Three Times: This Can’t Be a Coincident.”]

Two guys - Philip and Andrew - knew each other a bit all through their growing up years in Maryland. They knew who the other was all through  Grammar School - same class - then high school - same school, same  class -  then they both went to the same college - but they took different classes - graduating the same year: 1993.

Then they lost track of each other - going their separate ways.

Andrew became a dentist. Philip became an electrical engineer. Andrew lived and worked and was married and had a family in Denver, Colorado.  Philip lived in New Orleans - same situation - working and married with family.

There was a time there - both wanted to be priests.

Ooops, I didn’t mention that the college they went to was a college many people  never heard of: UMBC - and this weekend many had  came back for their 25^th UMBC - Silver Anniversary.

They came alone - their spouses and family had lots of stuff going on this weekend in March.

Unfortunately they didn’t spot each other at the banquet on Saturday night. Times change and people change how they look. Philip had a mustache and a beard and lots of top hair. Andrew was bald - completely bald.

There they were at the 8 AM Sunday Mass - at a local church - up near UMBC.

They didn’t spot each other till coming back from receiving communion.

After Mass they headed to each other and both said, “If I knew you were coming to Mass this morning I would have gone with you in the same Uber.”

They spotted a breakfast place across the street and went for breakfast.

Both had airplane flights in the late afternoon - out of BWI.

They sat there and talked from 9:15 till 12:15.

Looking back this became the highlight of their 25 Anniversary Weekend.

They talked about all the classmates they met the night before at a big banquet.

They talked about their years at UMBC - and then about what happened after that: their marriages, their families, what they learned.

Both lost their parents: cancer. 

They talked about what happened after college graduation.

Then sort of by accident they talked about 3 things that happened to both of them - that they said, had to be and interesting coincident.

Philip said to Andrew, “I see that you still go to church.”

“Yeah, I always did. It must be my family. My mom and dad gave us the gift of our Catholic faith.”

Philip said, “Me too.”

Then Philip said, “The key thing was something that happened at Dental School. It was a Sunday morning and I was heading out for church one Sunday morning and a guy I know saw me heading for my car.  He was just coming back from breakfast and a newspaper. He asked me where I was headed this early on a Sunday morning. I just simply said, “Oh I going out to Mass.”

Philip then said, “A year later that guy said to me, “I want to thank you for something you said last year - that you were going out to church on a Sunday morning.”

He said he was a Lutheran and he had stopped going to church. Then he said, “Well you got me back to church. Thank you.”

Andrew said, “That’s funny. A Jewish gal saw me doing the same thing and she said three years later. ‘You got me back to my religion. Thank you.”

They continued talking. Philip then said, “Yeah and that  happened two more times through the years. Three times. That can’t be a coincident.”

Andrew said, “That’s funny. Now that you say that, that happened  two more times to me as well. One was a neighbor in Denver. I see him in Church all the time with his family, and he sometimes introduces himself as the guy who got me back to church.”

They both went to BWI together - same Uber - and something  happened to both of them in their plane ride home that Sunday late afternoon: Andrew to Denver…. Philip to New Orleans.

While flying, they both remembered the Gospel they heard - but didn’t hear that Sunday morning in a church near UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sometimes we don’t hear the gospel we heard that morning till a long time after wards. This can’t be a coincident. They both realized that their names were Philip and Andrew and in the gospel that morning Philip and Andrew were both asked by other people: “We want to see Jesus.”

And they both brought people to Jesus.

And they both thanked their parents for bringing them to Jesus.

And they both called each other on their cell phones when there plane landed, but before they could get off the plane - one in Denver and one in New Orleans.

They didn’t talk too long. They both told each other about the wonderful coincident of that weekend.

And oops there was a fourth coincident - but only from Philip’s side. That overheard conversation got the person next to him thinking. The person on Andrew side got annoyed.

But who knows, sometimes people only hear the gospel a long time after wards.

[This story is a total fabrication. I assume that there was no 25th Anniversary of UMBC this weekend - but I had to get Philip and Andrew back to school for this story.  But the story in today's gospel is from the Gospel of John, today's gospel reading, John 12: 20-33.]