Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Courtesy of the Sneak

Courtesy of the Sneak

Last updated on: February 13, 2022 at 11:16 pm by Mary Pezzulo

Courtesy of the Sneak 2022-02-13T23:16:34-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Things have continued to be dreary and unlucky.

A thaw came, rinsing gallons and gallons of melted snow into the gutters, and then it froze. The sidewalks are a dangerous maze of ice, pockmarked by jagged human footprints and speckled with sharp flecks of the most unpleasant kind of snow.

The workman who fixed my furnace had promised to fix the upstairs toilet as well “after the storm,” but the snowstorm came and went and he never came back. For ten days we could only use the toilet in our downstairs bathroom, which is in the laundry room. The laundry room used to be a back porch. It’s completely un-insulated and doesn’t really get any heat. It’s freezing in there. I felt like I was using a Medieval privy, like the characters in Catherine Called Birdie which Rosie and I are reading right now.

The financial slump continues to be a slump, though it’s begun to get better. We covered rent, which is a huge relief, but because the bad patch lasted so long we’ve still got a few bills and shutoff notices coming up in the next two weeks that are making Michael tear his hair out. And only after we fix that can I figure out how to put Rose back in her after-school lessons. I’m trying not to think about it.

Yesterday and today were pleasant though, thanks mostly to The Sneak.

We have a mysterious benefactor. I don’t know who they are, but I assume they live nearby and I hope they know I’m grateful. Every month or so, sporadically, always after I’ve mentioned going through a bad spell financially on the blog, the Sneak puts an envelope with two twenties and a ten in it in the mailbox. The envelope doesn’t have a name, it just says JMJ. The one that came at Christmas had a colorful card with the Three Kings on it, but it still wasn’t signed.

Michael once said “our sneak left money in the mailbox” and that’s how The Sneak got their nickname. Our horrible harassing neighbor we call Miss Manners, the family on the corner are The Baker Street Irregulars, and the mysterious tipper is The Sneak. I imagine them sidling up to our mailbox looking like The Cheat from Homestar Runner, but with an elaborate halo like the background of an icon. After we installed the security camera because of the harassment situation, I wondered if we’d catch The Sneak. But they’re too clever for us. Michael went to take out the trash yesterday and found The Sneak had put the envelope at the side door, where there’s no camera.

Fifty dollars cash wasn’t going to put Rose back in martial arts or pay the past due bills. But it was just enough to go to the shopping center and get a few groceries I’ve needed but have been putting off. I have to be in ketosis to control my PCOS, but that can get expensive. I like to bake myself ketogenic desserts with almond meal and beaten egg instead of flour sometimes, using monkfruit sweetener instead of sugar, but granulated monkfruit sweetener costs at least five times more than sugar. I’d been out of monkfruit sweetener for a week. When we found The Sneak’s gift, I had just come back from buying the cheaper groceries. I’d remembered that I needed monkfruit but decided not to get it because of the price. I took the wad of bills and drove right back to the shopping center, but on a whim I went into TJ Maxx first to window shop.

In the gourmet food section of TJ Maxx, they happened to have several bags of my favorite brand of monkfruit, for about the price of a pound of sugar. I got two.

I went to Kroger next, where I found there were beautiful steaks in the Manager’s Special clearance section, so I got one of those as well. And there was still some left to take Rosie to Sheetz for treats after Sunday Mass.

This morning I had a sirloin steak for breakfast and I’ll make a ketogenic cake on Valentine’s Day, courtesy of The Sneak and TJ Maxx, and whoever ordered too many really good steaks in the Kroger meat department.

As I was finishing my meal, the workman showed up. He actually fixed our toilet. He noticed the perpetual leak in the ancient bathroom faucet and fixed that as well. my bathroom is suddenly so modern I feel like I’m in a hotel.

Everything is grace. That’s the mystery of Christianity. All things work for the good of those who love the Lord, but it doesn’t always feel good. Often, through a mystery I can’t explain, we go through hard times even though God doesn’t want them. Sometimes we go through impossible times and we break. And God suffers and breaks with us even when we’ve lost the ability to be aware of Him. Better still, while suffering with us, He can somehow manage to turn the suffering He never desired into the fertile ground where something good can grow. That is a profound and beautiful mystery.

But I must say I like the other kind of grace best: the kind where things come together in a series of little miracles, and you feel good.

Maybe I could think of God as a kind of Sneak: someone I can’t see or understand, who is doing things for my benefit, one way or another.

Image via pixabay

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.
Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Previous Post

February 13, 2022

And Blessed Are You

Next Post

February 17, 2022 Housing, Poverty and the House-Poor Millionaire

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the first woman created by God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rebekah Eve Mary Sarah