The Crown—The Right Place at the Right Time

Recently I was on a wonderful pilgrimage to many of the Catholic shrines of France with a group of amazing people from the Diocese of Pittsburgh and beyond. One of the sites that we visited was the beautiful Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. We know this almost 900-year-old church from its role in the life of the Church, in literature, and in film. The tragic fire that did great damage to its structure in 2019 drew renewed global attention to this magnificent church.
 
Our pilgrimage itinerary by necessity was a flexible one depending on our ability to gain entrance to churches and sites along the way. So it was for us in our visit to Notre Dame. We just happened to be at Notre Dame on Friday, March 6 before 3:00 PM. We had no idea that very Friday during Lent at 3:00 in the afternoon the Crown of Thorns that was placed on the head of Jesus during His Passion is brought forth from the reliquary that houses it in Notre Dame for the veneration of the people gathered in this church. As I entered this cathedral packed with people, there were a number of fellow pilgrims from our group with me. Beautiful music set the mood for reverent and somber prayer as we walked through the church up the left aisle around the sanctuary past the great reliquary of the Crown of Thorns, and down the right aisle. As I was looking over at the steps of the sanctuary, I saw some selected people line up to venerate devoutly the Crown individually. All of a sudden, a woman who was helping to organize the veneration called out to me, “Monseigneur, Monseigneur!” and beckoned to come to her. When I walked up to her, she asked in French where I was from. I replied, “Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania in the United States.” She smiled broadly and replied in English, “Come in, come in!” I told her that I could not, because I was with a group (I did not want to enter the sanctuary without them). She insisted, “You must, you must!” as she took my arm and led me in. I found myself ushered by her the head of the line  people chosen to come up right in front of this sacred relic of the Crown of Thorns. I removed my zucchetto (bishop’s round cap), genuflected, and kissed the reliquary containing the Crown, and placed my head against it as well as my rosary. I genuflected again and walked away. I left absolutely awestruck and moved beyond words. I had just venerated an instrument of the saving Passion of Jesus—the Crown of Thorns that was placed upon His head as He thought of each one of us whom He loved to the point of death!  I felt so unworthy of this grace and, yet, so grateful for it. I was, by God’s design, in the right place at the right time by God’s design. He willed it to be so!
 
So it is in our lives in so many ways by God’s plan—to be in the right place at the right time, for the right reason—to love. We hear about it in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (4:4-5), “When the designated time had come, God sent forth His Son born of a woman, born under the law, to deliver from the law those who were subjected to it, so that we might receive our status as adopted sons.” God’s plan is always in effect; we only need to see it by His grace and embrace it. Our Lady was conceived immaculately and was born at just the right time, in the right place to become the Mother of God. Jesus came at just the right time in the right place according to the Father’s plan to save us by His Passion and Death.
 
To be in the right place at the right time is where God puts us each day. To be at the Sacrifice of the Mass and to united with Jesus’ saving Death and Resurrection, to be with the spouse we are wed to, to hear God’s call to the priesthood or the religious life, to be at the side of the poor or the homeless and give of ourselves, to be there for our children or our aged parents when they need us, to be at Planned Parenthood to speak lovingly to the women contemplating an abortion on behalf of her unborn child, to be at the sick bed of one close to death, to be wherever God needs us and places us. And yes, to be at the right place at the right time and to receive the crown of glory.
 
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh