There were a lot of emotions shared saying "goodbye" in Acts and the Gospel according to John today. I loved how they all knelt down with Paul to praying as they parted for the last time. With The Community we are given a blessing in song form as we are driving away...
Our first experience with the blessing song send off when we picked up Susan to take her to her cousin's wedding in Colorado, and she told us in front of Our Lady of Guadalupe altar that she was joining The Community of the Lamb... We didn't know that we are supposed to wave and drive off as they sing to us. We thought we were to politely listen to the entire song, so finally after many verses they started to wave at us and bid us farewell.
"When he had finished speaking
he knelt down and prayed with them all.
They were all weeping loudly
as they threw their arms around Paul and kissed him,
for they were deeply distressed that he had said
that they would never see his face again.
Then they escorted him to the ship."
Final goodbyes are something I am familiar with as I was a hospice nurse for almost 15 years! More recently we had Pat's precious mom on hospice for almost 2 years and her final week was very evident to us that she was actively dying, so we could have our deep saying final goodbye experiences! I was able to sing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy with her and share the rosary beads between our two fingers! I knew of her LOVE of The Church which we share, so it was very special to share that with her.
Lord, the humming of equipment putting in the crop is all around us this day. Keep the farmers safe and sane in this crazy time of year. We are so grateful for the beauty of praying together and departing from one another whether we will see them again or for the final time on this earth. We keep our eyes and hearts set on being united in heaven forever with you, Mary and all the Saints! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Hallelujah
John's Gospel today!
It is so true that from our suffering we come to find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!
Romans 8:10-11
If Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin, while the spirit lives because of justice. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life also, through His Spirit dwelling in you.
“When we come to a knowledge of truth
it calls forth a response.
I am reminded of a story I heard about a man who became a priest in his early fifties because he came in contact with something that changed his life. While at this writing I can’t verify the story, I learned he was a research scientist at NASA, working with a camera that could gauge and measure on the screen the aura of light around a human body. I believe it is Kirlian photography. NASA’s interest was in being able to identify and monitor the aura of the astronauts in orbit, to determine what is happening to them internally. What they found was that dying people have a very thin aura, like blue light, which gets weaker and weaker until the people die.
The scientist and an associate were in a hospital apparently behind a two way mirror monitoring the aura of a dying man. As they watched, another man came into the room and filled the room with light, which emanated from his pocket. The man reached into his pocket and did something that caused the camera to be so filled with light that they were unable to see what was happening. They ran into the room only to discover the man giving Communion to the dying man.
They raced back to the camera and observed that as the dying man received Communion his aura began to grow stronger. The scientist knew, at that point, that there was a higher power; there was someone to be reckoned with, someone for whom he had to live his life. He left his job and became a Catholic priest.
Once we acknowledge something, once we see something deeply, it carries with it a responsibility and accountability. 'When much has been given a man, much will be required of him…' Luke 12:48."
Fr Robert de Grandis, SSJ
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