Loss and Hope (Midweek)

-->

 

Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message

December 30, 2015

Loss and Hope

At year’s end, we look backward and forward; memory and expectation are mixed.    At one extreme, we might feel regret for the past year and fear for the coming one; at the other, our hearts might be filled with gratitude and hopeful anticipation.   But like much of life, most of us feel somewhere in between.

We have had several deaths in the parish family recently, especially adult children of parishioners.  Grief is closely related to regret and fear, but this need not be so.  In thinking about bereavement and grief, I was reminded of a wonderful poem by John O’Donahue. 

Though we need to weep your loss,
you dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
where no storm or might or pain can reach you.
Your love was like the dawn
brightening over our lives
awakening beneath the dark
a further adventure of colour.
The sound of your voice
found for us
a new music
that brightened everything.
Whatever you enfolded in your gaze
quickened in the joy of its being;
you placed smiles like flowers
on the altar of the heart.
Your mind always sparkled
with wonder at things.
Though your days here were brief,
your spirit was live, awake, complete.
We look towards each other no longer
from the old distance of our names;
now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
as close to us as we are to ourselves.
Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul's gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything
To which we bring our best refinement.
Let us not look for you only in memory,
where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
beside us when beauty brightens,
when kindness glows
and music echoes eternal tones.
When orchids brighten the earth,
darkest winter has turned to spring;
may this dark grief flower with hope
in every heart that loves you.
May you continue to inspire us:
to enter each day with a generous heart.
to serve the call of courage and love
until we see your beautiful face again
in that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
and where we will never lose you again.

Grace and peace, and joy for the coming year. 

Fr. Tony+