A story is told of a Maryknoll missioner who was
traveling to a distant outstation in his rural parish in Tanzania. He was
fighting malaria and also a cold, but was determined to celebrate the Eucharist
for a small group of Christians who had the chance to participate in Mass only
once a month. As he jolted over the dirt road ("bush track" would be a more
accurate description) in his four-wheel drive truck it began to rain heavily. At
one place he slid off the road and got stuck in a ditch. He got out of his truck
to check the problem. As he thought about being alone and sick and soaked in
this desolate place of Africa he looked up to the sky and shouted in anguish,
"Lord, what am I doing here?" His situation was so incongruous that he started
laughing out loud and suddenly thought of the words of Jesus Christ: "Come,
follow me."