...yesterday we fed him with the bread of life, the very Body of Christ given for the forgiveness of sins, for the life of the world. Today he is with the Lord. "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace" we sang in the ICU and He did.
She's facing a move to the nursing home. She hates the thought of it and what it means. Her son is suffering from cancer and in a room in the hospital not far from her own. It doesn't look good. Her daughter-in-law is under double-strain.
"The Lord doesn't give us more than we can bear" another friend said to me this week as she broke down, but she was really wondering if it was true. A parent's love for a child is beyond words.
Imogene called from Texas yesterday morning. She'd moved down there to be near her son. He died yesterday of pancreatic cancer. She's lost son and husband now. He'd come back to the Lord before he died; had received the Holy Eucharist. She had that comfort.
On and on and on. Is it any wonder the Church prays for mercy so often?
Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
"then called I upon the name of the Lord." His name IS mercy. The Lord, the Lord, gracious and merciful. His gracious mercy shone in the gift of His Son into death for us. His gracious mercy shone in breaking the bonds of death and granting forgiveness to a a world. Help us believe, Lord. Help them all to cling to you!
It would be easy for us to think this week has been defined by suffering and death.
ReplyDeleteIt hasn't. It's been defined by Mercy.