Maybe it was just concindence...

St. Lambert Parish was honored by a visit from Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez of Santiago, Primate of Cuba and newly elected president of the Cuban Catholic Bishops Conference. The archbishop presided at a Mass during which he blessed an image of Our Lady of Charity given to St. Lambert by Cuban parishioners. St. Lambert parishioner, Thelma Perez, recalled Archbishop Garcia very well from her childhood in Guantanamo where her brother and the future archbishop were good friends.
In addition to a strong representation of Cuban émigrés who are members of St. Lambert, St. Ita or other parishes of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the liturgy was attended by Jimmy Lago, Chancellor of the Archdiocese and a broad cross section of St. Lambert’s Filipino, European, Haitian, Sri Lankan and other parishioners.
About a week later, as Archbishop Garcia was preparing to leave Chicago, Margarita Garcia (no relation) presented him with some small gifts as mementos of his visit. Among the gifts was an autographed copy of Scott Hahn’s The Lamb’s Supper in a Spanish edition.
Margarita recounts that, “His eyes lit up like a kid receiving a new toy.” She went on to explain that the Archbishop related that he tries to acquire every book of Dr. Hahn’s as soon as it comes out in Spanish. After reading them himself, he then gives these books to various parishes and prayer groups. The books are then circulated from one faith community to another in much the same way as the letters of Paul were passed between the various early Christian communities.
“I wish I had a way to let Dr. Hahn know,” the archbishop said, “how much his writings are appreciated and what they mean to the people of Santiago.”
Margarita then said with a sly grin, “I think that can be arranged.” She then informed Archbishop Garcia that Fr. Simon, pastor of St. Lambert Parish, was a good friend of Dr. Hahn and could certainly relay the message.
What Margarita was unaware of and learned only after she passed the information along, was that Fr. Simon would be leaving the next day to serve as chaplain on a tour of the Holy Land being led by Dr. Hahn and would be spending the next week and a half with him.
What will develop further remains to be seen, but this series of events serves to remind me of one definition of coincidence as God incognito.