I know, I know …

Well, one thing’s for certain …

God will never be outdone in generosity.

Or mercy …

Or sense of humor.

As my visit to Nebraska drew to a close, I resigned myself to the reality that there would be no photograph of a procession in a field;

All of the beautiful processions I had been to were in small towns and suburbs.

And if you read my last post, I was given the amazing gift of encountering the hidden gem of what is the Nebraskan Catholic Church.

But no procession through a field —

Wrong.

Again.

On the final day of coverage of the Eucharistic Pilgrimage, a day when the Blessed Sacrament would be transferred from the Diocese of Grand Island to the Diocese of Lincoln, there was an unforeseen problem.

The planned procession and handoff was scrapped due to problems with the route. and an alternate one was put in its place.

This one would not be open to the public for safety reasons and would take place on a road that my GPS couldn’t locate.

But just as in the initial plan, there was a bridge involved. 

It would cross the Platte River.

I’m not going to say that God changed the whole thing just so I could get that shot,

But I certainly would be okay with that … if that were the case,

Because as the small convoy of vehicles went from paved roads to dirt ones,

And as we approached this antiquated, rickety, one-lane bridge …

Surrounded by fields!

My heart stopped.

I felt that my face would break from the smile on it.

I’ll leave it at this:

I had it backwards from the start.

The shot in the fields didn’t really matter.

The real story is the beauty and holiness that lives in the heart of the Nebraskan Catholics.

The real story is their warmth and genuine kindness towards each other and to me, the stranger.

And the real story is their love for Jesus Christ and His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

And they proved that through their witness and their actions.

The shot in the fields?

That’s just icing …

But who doesn’t love icing!

Jeffrey Bruno is on assignment to capture in photos the moving moments of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage for EWTN News.