“Whatever is hidden will come to light.”

—Gospel of Mark 4:22

It has been said, there are no accidents in life only some purpose we haven’t yet understood. Ruth Fisher discovered the truth of this one day in 1947 when she was riding in a New York subway.

“I felt a little uncomfortable,” says Ruth, “being one of the few passengers in the car that day.”

“One stop later, a gentleman got on the train, and I felt relieved that there would be another presence in the subway car. 

“I peered into his face anxiously, and was reassured to see a mild-mannered man, with a pleasant countenance and an amiable manner. 

“At the next stop, a middle aged woman boarded the train. Then she, too, began to wend her way in the general direction of where the man and I were sitting.

“She peered over the man’s shoulder to see what he was reading. I was pleasantly amused while watching the two of them. Then she began to address him in a language which I could certainly identify.

“I did have an excellent command of German, and I could follow Yiddish which is quite similar. So I was able to follow the dialogue with very little difficulty.

“Where are you from…originally?” she inquired.

The man, unperturbed, named a country in Eastern Europe.

“What city?” she asked.

He answered again, noncommittally, and began to look confused by the direction of her interrogation.

“What did you do…before the war?”

He named his profession.

“Look at me. Look at me!” she commanded. “Don’t you recognize me anymore?”

They were husband and wife, and found themselves together again in a subway train in New York. Each had made his and her way alone to New York City to begin a new life.

As this reunion (which was reported widely in all the local newspapers) passed before my disbelieving, tear-filled eyes, I marveled at the strange force or grace that had compelled the woman to take her seat immediately adjoining the man’s.

I felt enormously grateful to have been placed there to serve as a witness, to be imbued, from an early age, with the sense of mystery and excitement and awe that such a tableau inspired in me. I was greatly blessed to see such an incredible encounter unfold before my very eyes. to stand at the threshold of life knowing clearly that with God all things are possible.”

Being a witness to little miracles in the lives of others is also a miracle. Ruth shared in the incredible reunion of a couple who were cruelly separated in Eastern Europe during the second world war but were reunited, miraculously, before her very eyes on a train in New York.

God works in strange ways to reveal His hidden purposes for us.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy