Our parish recently convened an emergency-planning commission to be ready for any event. I learned a great deal, including that you can get a substantial amount of work done during a lockdown; no one bothers you while you shelter in place and hide under a desk.

I also learned that some people truly are not good under pressure. During CPR training, one woman nearly collapsed. While doing chest compressions on a mannequin, she began to hyperventilate and cry. “This is too stressful,” she said. “What if I kill him?” “Well,” said the trainer, “first of all, this is a dummy, and he’s not alive. But, second, a person in this situation is already dead if no one helps.”

Since that training, I have continually thought about the trainer’s words in a spiritual sense. A person truly is dead if no one helps him or her see God. This means that fortitude is a necessity for spiritual growth.

I saw this on the playground at one of our parochial schools. A little girl in first grade fell off a jungle gym and broke her leg. The injury was gruesome as the bone was actually protruding from her leg. Most of the kids were screaming and crying, but a boy in the fourth grade picked her up and carried her to the nurse for help.

The principal later commended him, but he was not impressed by his actions. “They were all sissies,” he said. “I had to do something to help her. Screaming was not going to put her leg back!” I wish I knew where that kid is now. He probably could have helped my CPR-meltdown friend.

Our faith is filled with stories of those who responded to emergencies with faith and conviction. There is St. Oscar Romero, who was martyred for standing up to a corrupt government; St. Maximilian Kolbe, who offered his life for another in a concentration camp; and St. Marianne Cope, who ministered to those with leprosy, undaunted by the prospect of contracting the disease herself. All of these saints were far from being “sissies,” as my young friend would say. Instead, they possessed heroic virtue. They realized a greater call from God to serve, and they embraced it.

Responding to the Holy Spirit with trust

That certainly does not mean that we should go looking for trouble. We work for the Church, after all — it will find us! However, it does mean that we should be ready to respond when it comes. Our Lord expressed this idea in the Last Supper discourses of John’s Gospel: “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour” (Jn 12:27).

Not everything is an emergency, no matter what your staff or Ladies Guild might tell you. It is also impossible to plan for every contingency. However, preparedness to the extent that we can is essential if we are to endure the trials and tribulations of life.

Growing up, I used to love the TV show “MacGyver,” because he was always ready for anything. He could escape from any situation using only socks, candy bars and paper clips. Although some of the ideas were far-fetched, the overall premise was not. With God’s help, we should be able to use the gifts he has given us to endure and respond to whatever adversity comes. A candy bar is always most welcome, too.

In the end, I am not sure how effective our emergency plan will be, and I pray to God that we never have to deploy it. Even more, I pray that in any situation all of us respond to the Holy Spirit with trust and confidence.

At our ordinations, the bishop said to us, “May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.” This involves continually turning to God and embracing whatever may come. Troubling moments will occur, but I pray God we answer them with what we have at our disposal — prayer, grace and wisdom. Or socks, candy bars and paper clips.

FATHER MICHAEL ACKERMAN is the pastor at Resurrection Parish, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and chaplain at Seton LaSalle Catholic High School in Pittsburgh.