Godric: Of Rome, a maiden, and a bear
In one of Buechner's other books he penned a prayer that reads: catch us off guard today. Surprise us with some moment of beauty or pain so that for at least a moment we may be startled into seeing that you are with us here in all your splendor, always and everywhere, barely hidded, beneath, beyond, within this life we breath.
The pastor who performed my wedding read this prayer at my request. It speaks to those moments when we are truly caught by surprise by laughter or tears--when we aren't quite sure why it is our heart sinks or flutters.
Godric recalls his visit to Rome, his viewing of where Christians were once slain. Why did we weep? I asked myself. We wept for all that grandeur gone. We wept for martyrs cruelly slain. We wept for Christ, who suffered death upon a tree and suffers still to see our suffering. But more than anything, I think, we wept for us, and so it ever is with tears. Whatever be their outward cause, within the chancel of the heart it's we ourselves for whom they finally fall.
Ultimately it is our own life that we are living. When we get right down to it, all of our compassion or missed opportunity is what defines us. And when we sadden at the story of families torn apart, or our eyes well with sorrow for the grief of those whose children die in war, we are hurting for ourselves because we know, I think, that somewhere in the lives of others, our life, our suffering, has intermingled with theirs.
Sure, it is our life, but Donne told us that no man is an island, and we'd be foolish to disagree. We Christians have much to learn from the Buhddists who teach compassion, who understand suffering as a universal connection. So when your eyes well up, or a lump grows in your throat, pay attention not only to the outward cause, but the inward chancel as well.
The pastor who performed my wedding read this prayer at my request. It speaks to those moments when we are truly caught by surprise by laughter or tears--when we aren't quite sure why it is our heart sinks or flutters.
Godric recalls his visit to Rome, his viewing of where Christians were once slain. Why did we weep? I asked myself. We wept for all that grandeur gone. We wept for martyrs cruelly slain. We wept for Christ, who suffered death upon a tree and suffers still to see our suffering. But more than anything, I think, we wept for us, and so it ever is with tears. Whatever be their outward cause, within the chancel of the heart it's we ourselves for whom they finally fall.
Ultimately it is our own life that we are living. When we get right down to it, all of our compassion or missed opportunity is what defines us. And when we sadden at the story of families torn apart, or our eyes well with sorrow for the grief of those whose children die in war, we are hurting for ourselves because we know, I think, that somewhere in the lives of others, our life, our suffering, has intermingled with theirs.
Sure, it is our life, but Donne told us that no man is an island, and we'd be foolish to disagree. We Christians have much to learn from the Buhddists who teach compassion, who understand suffering as a universal connection. So when your eyes well up, or a lump grows in your throat, pay attention not only to the outward cause, but the inward chancel as well.
posted by Mr. McNamar at 5:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home