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Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Readings: Acts 20:17-27 Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21 John 17:1-11

I am in the world no longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. [John 17:11]

Shakespeare ‘penned’ the phrase quoted above. I didn’t understand it as a student of Shakespeare in high school but I began to understand it when I waved goodbye to my family as I sailed off to Italy on September 21, 1963 for a three-year stretch in Rome. In fact, it has multiple meanings and applications that I appreciate now more than ever before.

There is another phrase that perhaps gives credence to my thoughts so poorly expressed and it’s this: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Ah, that’s it. At times we need to separate from ‘the source’ in order to appreciate how important it is to stay connected.

The farewell speech of St. Paul in Acts and the farewell ‘prayer’ of Jesus in John’s gospel were more likely composed by the authors of these texts along the lines of the farewell speeches of great leaders of their times in order to attract the attention of Jesus’ followers.

The departure of Jesus and later that of Paul created ‘fallow’ time in the hearts of the neophyte believers that was absolutely necessary if they were to grasp the significance of Jesus’ message and the teachings of St. Paul.

We are once again in ‘fallow’ time as we prepare for Pentecost. It’s a time of discernment during which we are invited to ponder the words and deeds of Jesus so that in his absence, we may come to know his presence in the Spirit that remains within us and around us.

As we ponder, it is important to reflect on the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and reverence of the Lord. And the fruits of the Holy Spirit are qualities that are characteristic of a community living in Christ: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty self-control and chastity.

There is much to ponder as we wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Memorial Day

Monday May 28, 2007

+ Memorial Day

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” and blessed are we who honor the memory of the dead.

Readings: Tobit 1:3; 2:1-8 Mark 12:1-12

“_And I wept. When the sun was down, I went and dug a grace and buried him. My neighbors laughed and said, ‘See! He is not afraid any more_.’” [Tobit 2:7-8a]

I watch in silence at the conclusion of the Jim Lehrer Report on PBS as the official list of American soldiers killed in Iraq is scrolled—photos, names and ages. There is no music, no commentary, just silence. Sometimes there are five. Other times there are twenty-five. Most of them are younger than 25. Their lives were hardly a breath.

Then I think of all the war dead—those of past wars, men and women of every rank, innocent and perhaps not so innocent. Once idealistic warriors who believed they could make a difference and who we must believe did make a difference. No, they didn’t see the fruit of their efforts but their bravery will remain deeply embedded in the minds and hearts of their comrades and certainly their families and whatever their calculated risk and perhaps their errors of judgment, we hold them in respect because in truth they were not born to kill but to liberate the human spirit.

The young are sent to war because they see only the possibilities of peace and not the devastation of war. They accede to training to defend but in the process, they are trained to kill. Their young minds are unable to grasp the downside of armed force.

Memorial Day was instituted following the civil war to honor those who died to free the slaves. It was later expanded to honor all the war dead on both side as an aid to healing and reconciliation.

No sane American can ever hold up war as an ideal and a growing number of elders among us including veterans of any armed strife are decrying war as a solution to any ideological conflict. From Pope to pauper, the cry has gone out, “No more war, war never again!” [Pope Paul VI to the United Nations, 1965]

As we honor our dead heroes of every war, we for whom they bore arms can never forget their sacrifices. Even those whose vision may have been clouded by the guarantee of victory, let them be at peace but let we the living never exhaust our effort to find a better way to victory on all sides.

Moreover, let Memorial Day be a solemn feast—close the malls, open the parks, let the parades begin, sing the songs of yesteryear and keep alive the memory of all whose voices we will never hear again and give honor to the meaning of what their lives might have been had they come home alive.