Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Life, Death, Divinity, Humanity
This reflection was written upon the death of a friend’s father and is shared today as a Favorite.
Much of life is lived in a confusion of fear and thanksgiving and we find a jumble of these emotions in Psalms 7 though 18. Looking at just the New American Bible titles of these poems gives us a series of jubilant prayers mixed with sorrow-filled ones. It is in this way that these poems bring us a faultless reflection of life.
The fusion of worlds present in the human made in the image of God is a dichotomy which we can either unite our id, ego and superego . . . or it can split us into child and adult separated by a chasm of fear. Fear of what? Fear of suffering. Fear of humiliation. Fear of loss. Fear of abandonment. Fear of loneliness. Fear of knowing that we err. Fear of rejection. Fear of death. And when I think of this litany of pain, I realize that each of these woes is accompanied by a restorative. Joy in celebration. Joy in exaltation. Joy in gain. Joy in companionship. Joy in intimacy. Joy in knowing that we are doing the right thing. Joy in perfect, trust-filled union with another. Joy in life. Our fear-filled humanity struggles with our covenant-honoring divinity.
Psalm 8 brings us dichotomous images announced in the title: Divine Majesty and Human Dignity. We find more in the psalm: earth and heaven, babes and foes, enemy and avenger. The verses that tell all that we really need to know: What are humans that you [God] are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet . . . O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!
What a wonderful God we have who loves us to the extent that he creates us, visits with us, loves and comforts us, feeds, houses and clothes us, heals and tends to us, listens to us, blesses us . . . always . . . with constancy . . . with fidelity . . . with dignity . . . with patience . . . through eternity.
We often feel closer in death to the ones we love than we did when these dear ones were yet in this life. These loved ones speak to us constantly now that the physical distances of this world no longer separate us. They bring us the very real presence of the next world with their constant visitation. We cannot see them because of the limiting time and space of this globe but still their existence is real.
We are human. We are divine. And we feel the constant struggle of reconciling these two worlds of self. A human death brings us up short because we are forced to consider if we believe that we are created as gift. We pause to think again about the Resurrection, the forgiveness of sin, life everlasting. We cannot help but reflect on how we have treated this departed one: with the dignity deserved no matter the situation? With the witness of divine majesty? Did we salute the gift of this person while they were still in this life? Did we honor this person while still with us as well as we will honor them in death?
The ones we love who have died linger among us. We love that much. They still laugh when we laugh, cry when we cry. We cannot see them with the eyes of this world, or hear them with these ears. But they are here with us nonetheless. As we are with them. They hold us close. They have not disappeared. Their presence is still felt . . . and it will be . . . forever and ever. Amen.
Adapted from the May 31, 2008 Noontime.
For more information about Teilhard de Chardin, click on his image above or go to: http://teilharddechardin.org/
Image of the creation of Adam from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam
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The Noontimes 