Brothers’ Contributions – Three Score Years and Ten – Or Eighty if We are Strong!

As I grow older, I find myself reflecting more and more on what happens when this life ends. I don’t believe this is being morbid; rather it is being realistic for someone who has now reached the age of 80. The psalmist quotes the above title as he compares the brevity of human life to the eternity of God. (Ps.90:10). There are plenty of reassuring references both in scripture and in the liturgy that tell us that everything will be well – “Life is changed, Lord, not taken away”. (Preface from the Requiem Mass). Matthew assures us that at the last judgement our acts of kindness will be acknowledged. (Mt.25:25). Nor is this a denial of human weakness. God knows us through and through and offers complete forgiveness – he throws our sins behind his back! (Is.38:17).

I read recently two books which I would highly recommend to anyone who is interested in the “afterlife”. They are by Brian Grogan, SJ: To Grow in Love and Where To From Here. Grogan says that Christ is intensely biased in our favour when he comes to judge us. St Paul is of the same mind when he comforts the early Christians in Rome: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom.8:31). I am reminded of the TV advert featuring the former footballer Peter Crouch who uses the catch phrase, “Big deal. So what?”, when advertising a detergent that will get rid of any stain.

I have to admit that I am not a great believer in Hell or Purgatory, even though our Church teaches both. If God loves us “madly”, who will he condemn? “God so loved us so much that he gave us his only Son…” (Jn.3:16).  Evil of course does exist; we read about it every day in the media. But what God does with the evil person I leave to the mystery of God’s love. As a Christian I believe in the incarnation and in the resurrection. The fact that God became one of us implies that everything is sacred. The fact that Christ was raised from the dead assures me that I will have a transformative meeting with Christ when I die.

Someone once said to me, after attending the funeral of a deceased Christian Brother, “Why are Christian Brother funerals always happy?” I think the answer is that we know that the deceased Brother is now with God and if God is for us, who can be against us? The Catholic sacrament of Viaticum (once called Extreme Unction) means precisely that – he (Christ) goes with you. So, is there any reason to be afraid?

So, I will continue doing my bit. (I am still a trustee of our schools in England) I will continue believing, hoping and loving – and leave the rest to God.

“For I am certain of this: neither death, nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing yet to come… can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ”  (Rom. 8:38)

Br Dominic Sassi

Pilgrimage Prayer – Michael Leunig:

We pray for another way of being, another way of knowing

Across the difficult terrain of our existence

We have attempted to build a highway

And in so doing have lost our footpath

God, lead us to our footpath

Lead us to there, where in simplicity

We may move at the speed of natural creatures

And feel the earth’s love beneath our feet

Lead us where, step by step, we may feel the movement of creation in our heart.

And lead us where, side by side, we may feel the embrace of the common soul

Nothing can be loved at speed.

God, lead us to the slow path, to the joyous insights of the pilgrim, another way of

knowing, another way of being.

Amen

Contributed by Br David Ryan cfc, St Timothy’s Community, Liverpool