As I’ve progressed in my career and in my faith, I’ve become more and more comfortable sharing it in the secular world, particularly the corporate workplace. I want to share with you an experience that really hit the core of my being. 18 months ago, I started a new job with a new company and team.

Experience

A few months after I had started, our Chief Financial Officer shared with the finance team (~50 people) in a huddle, i.e., a weekly team meeting, that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. It came to the entire team as a shock, especially those who knew him for the ten years he had been with the company. We were devastated for him; but he remained poised with confidence and positivity. He stood up in the middle of our huddle and was certain he was going to fight like hell to beat it; he even created a contest amongst our team to raise money for charity. Whoever was the closest to picking the dates in which he would a) lose his all of his hair from the treatment and b) when he’d grow it back after he was done, would win the pot and half would go to charity.

I had this Benedictine Cross that I received from a Men’s group I had attended the previous fall called Into the Breach. I kept it hung on the side of my backpack. The cross was from a Catholic organization called the Men of the Holy Cross, an organization that challenges men in authentic masculinity. Part of what they do is pass out these crucifixes. They include with them a letter, asking whoever receives the cross to keep it until they find someone who needs it and who they feel called to give it to.

After the huddle, the Spirit was tugging on my heart to give the cross to the CFO. The CFO was Irish Catholic, the youngest of nine children, however, he wasn’t practicing. I knew the Controller was a practicing Catholic and she was very close with him. So I asked her if the CFO would warmly receive the cross if I gave it to him. She said he would. So after fighting all the temptations for why I shouldn’t give him the cross (I was new to the Company, what if he rejects it, would he look at me weird, etc.), I gathered the courage to go into his office and give it to him. I told him to keep it with him every day as he goes through his treatment. He smiled, gave me a hug and said thank you. I told him that I would be praying for him and include his recovery as a daily intention during my daily rosary (which I pray on my way into work).

Months later, after a major surgery, the CFO conducted his first weekly huddle back in the office. To warmly welcome him back, our team surprised him by all wearing the same stomach cancer shirts (which we all purchased to raise money for stomach cancer research). During the huddle, he thanked the team for their kind words, emails, and texts of support during his absence. He specifically called out an email that he received from one of the girls from the general ledger team. He also pulled from his pocket, the Benedictine Cross, and told the team about how I had given him the cross when he told us about his diagnosis. What he said after almost had me in tears. He said “I have been carrying this cross with me every day since Darin gave it to me. And what Darin didn’t know when he gave me it, is that the elementary school that I attended when growing up in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was called St. Benedict!” I looked at him and padded my hand against my heart to symbolize the love I felt in that moment. What shocked me even more after, is the number of people on my team, who came up to me after telling me how great it was for me to do that for him. I found out later, that a lot of them were also Catholic.

Reflection

This is just small proof of what happens when we listen to the calls of the Holy Spirit. Now I don’t know exactly how that cross made the CFO feel throughout his battle, but what I do hope is that the cross gave him strength and renewed his faith in the process (which I was praying it would do). But regardless of how it made him feel, I truly believe that the cross, and the link between his childhood elementary school, was no coincidence. I believe it was God telling him not to worry and that He would be with him through whatever was ahead.

The CFO endured a hard and tough battle, which sadly came to an end this past July. The moments I shared with him will live in my mind forever. I thank the Lord for allowing me to have met such a brilliant man. For his example, his courage, his strength, and his heart. May God grant him eternal rest!