Proper14A, Sullivan Park Care Center, August 10, 2014 by Sr
Annette Fricke, OP
The summer,
for me, began at the beginning of July when the retired priest, now age 89 is
taking his usual two months off before resuming his scheduled return in
September. He is our primary pastoral
care provider as well as the pastoral visitor for his former parish. I am only
seeing part of the list, so I know it’s long. This year, more than ever, his
time off is very valuable. His wife’s
dementia is worsening and if life continues as expected for him, he will soon
outlive their approximately 53 year old daughter. She has pancreatic cancer, the same diagnosis
as another even younger member of the congregation who just died yesterday at a hospice
house on the South Hill. The task of providing pastoral care is a daunting one,
especially for someone who is going through his own walk with grief and loss. A person in this situation is a prime
candidate for both administering excellent care as well as succumbing to the hurt
that is within, ever in danger of leaking out at an inopportune moment. Worst case scenario, this can occur when
someone who is really struggling needs you to be strong the most. No one is immune, if indeed you have any
feeling at all for another’s pain in life.
This is why there are spiritual directors and why they also have
spiritual directors. There are certain
predicaments in our journeys here on earth, which demand the assistance of
others, most of which have an element of emotional pull. To put it bluntly, we
are all vulnerable to the temperamental waves of life’s ocean. Most of us are fearful of climbing out of the
safety of the boat, because we fear the force of the wind and the waves. We may not be aware, as children, but as
mature adults, we do know what’s out there, beyond our comfortable seats in the
boat. And if we don’t know, it is surely pretty close to our imaginations,
based on our past experiences.
Similarly,
the crafting of a particular British television series makes the point of
trying to balance one’s stressful work life amid the crises in one’s
family. The murder mystery series is
known by the title, ‘Wallander,’ Kurt Wallander being the full name of the key
performer. He plays the part of a
detective whose job description is to solve serial murder cases. He is a devoted policeman who pours himself
into his work one hundred percent. He
follows every lead till it is exhausted in pursuit of the truth of the identity
of the killer in each case. His
character is that of a man who is absolutely driven by the quest to solve that murder
as quickly as possible; a man who sits in a chair at night, unable to sleep,
partially because of the alcohol he is convinced will in some way help him
think. “He notices every detail about a
crime scene but cannot be bothered to notice when a loved one is
suffering. He is always on the edge of
collapse. The danger is not that he’ll
torture or kill a suspect; it’s that his own life is always within an inch of
falling apart. [The] relentless pursuit
of justice proves to be a demanding idol.”
He is single-minded and spends every waking moment of his time on duty relentlessly
tracking the suspect, determined to heed his demanding desire for justice.[1]
Wallander
finds himself torn between taking care of his own aging father and at the same
time going about solving the murder cases of elderly men. Further down the story line, he is
investigating the murder of several young women while dealing with a conflicting
relationship to his own daughter. The
fact of the matter is, like the title of this article in the magazine,
Christians are “never off the clock.”
This is how life comes to us in reality.
The boundaries become blurred because at the same time that we are in
process of comforting someone in their painful moments, we are going through
our own conflicts, our own struggles, and our own monumental strife. As much as we might like to give as a valid
excuse for not being involved in the pastoral care of those around us, that we
have our own problems, that simply will not cut it. There are no credible reasons for not caring. We are never off the clock because we are not
called to compromise our caring for each other as well as the entire world if
we indeed have decided to follow Jesus.
It is Jesus who commands us, like he did Peter, to come out of the
boat. Our attitude should be that of
Peter’s: “Jesus, is that you? I want to
be where you are. If that is you,
command me to come to you.”
When you
feel God’s absence in your life, when it seems that everything is crashing down
around you, when you are feeling totally abandoned, this gospel reading
emphasizes that God’s presence is always there.
God is there even when we don’t feel
that God is present. God will do
more for us than just be there in our joys and sorrows. God will defend us and lift us up when our
faith falters, just as he lifted Peter when Peter began to sink. God raises our whole beings to a new level of
faith when we become weak, when we unite our lives to Jesus.
There is
just one more thing that God illustrates for us in this gospel text and that is
this: the importance of spending time in prayer. If you follow the timeline, you will notice
that it appears that Jesus sent the crowds away in the late afternoon. We are told that Jesus was alone for most of
the night. He was there praying. He does not come back to the boat where the disciples
are until 4:00 am. Prayer is our
connection with God just as it was for Jesus while he was here on earth. It is prayer that grounds us for ministry to
and with others, allowing us to see that we are truly on equal terms with
others. There is no hierarchy of this or
that person being of a higher spiritual plane, because we all have the
potential, in our own lives, small as they may seem to the world, to help lift
others when they are sinking from the turbulent waves of life. Let the love of God in Jesus Christ be our
sole motivator for our actions towards others.
As in the
words of Julie Hausmann, Lord, take my hand and lead me upon life’s way; direct,
protect, and feed me from day to day.
Without your grace and favor I go astray; so take my hand, O Savior, and
lead the way. Lord, when the tempest
rages, I need not fear; for you, the Rock of Ages, are always near. Close by your side abiding, I fear no foe, for
when your hand is guiding, in peace I go.
Lord, when the shadows lengthen and night has come, I know that you will
strengthen my steps toward home, and nothing can impede me, O blessed
Friend! So, take my hand and lead me
unto the end.[2]
God is
indeed there to sustain us to the end: in the midst of all that troubles us, in
the ordinariness and in our joyful celebrations. God never abandons us; and even though at
times we sense that perhaps God is absent, help us in faith, to look up to you,
Lord Jesus.
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