Seek the Road That Makes Death A Fulfillment!
"Seek the Road That Makes Death A Fulfillment!"
Gospel Lk 7:1-10
When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, "He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us." And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come here, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it." When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
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Dag Hammarskjold once said: "Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment."
The road which makes death a fulfillment is service to others and in the words of Marie Von Eberiteschergbach: "There is only one proof of service:action." ? .
Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from a young man, living in an SRO on Mason Street. He had just moved in, and felt it was "haunted by demons," and wanted me to conduct "A Service of Exorcism."
And, so for the third time in my ministry, I did just that. And I initiated a relationship in which he could call me if his issues, of hearing "evil spirits" continued.
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In leaving I ran into three other individuals that I have known,? hanging on Polk Street in their youth, now living in an SRO. One was expressing his anger at the City for not providing medical services for? him as he became crippled.
I was so over come with tiredness, a bone tiredness. All along the street as I walked, there was one after another in tents, many doing drugs, one pregnant lady.
The words of Helen Keller rippled through my thoughts: "Although the world is full of suffering; it is also full of overcoming it."
A warm feeling flowed through my heart and the words of Julian of Norwich were heard: "All will be well!" as I continue the road that makes death a fulfillment!" Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
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Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
415-305-2124
Psychiatrist
1 年Thanks, River. I advise my agnostic and atheist friends that they do believe in God, even if He doesn’t exist.?By that I mean that they don’t know everything, and God, by my definition, is everything that we don’t know, which is almost everything, especially death, the starting point of all cultures and their spiritual disciplines.?Once one accepts one’s ignorance, in a genuinely humble fashion, there are then doorways for lovingkindness and all its attributes.?Even for agnostics and atheists.? Bill