Update early AM eastern time, Monday, December 3:
David died a few hours ago (Sunday, December 2). Tricia has a brief, heart-felt post tonight.
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I met David Reid once, only briefly, at Baldman and Waldie's Christmas Party (if memory serves.) We've prayed for him for years, since his initial cancer diagnosis. It looks as if the answer to our prayers included a few more years for David and Tricia, years that appear to be coming to an end.
When I first read Tricia's post explaining that everything had changed, I found myself unable to tear myself away from re-reading her words. I'm sure I'm not the only person who, in some way, relives those moments of recognized finality when hearing the stories of others who are learning that death is imminent or present (here and here).
As I went to sleep that night, I heard these words from Mark Heard, from The Pain that Plagues Creation:
For comfort in all your alternating tears and praise, we pray to the LordAs this planet falls around the sun trapping us in the orbit
Creation groans in unison like a race of frightened orphans
The darkness of this raging storm is covering up our portals
But a yearning for the light is borne in the heart of every mortal
Day to day we ache
With the pain that plagues Creation
Night to night we lie awake
And await its restoration
Heaven knows our lonely ways, heaven knows our sorrows
And Heaven knows things that we don't know and the joy of eternal tomorrows
But through this glass we dimly see this world as it was made
Oh and the good we know must surely flow
From the heart of a kind Creator
Day to day we ache
With the pain that plagues Creation
Night to night we lie awake
And await its restoration
So hold on in this restless age and do not fear your shadow
Your alternating tears and praise are prayers that surely will matter
Day to day we ache
With the pain that plagues Creation
Night to night we lie awake
And await its restoration
Lord, hear our prayer.
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1 comment:
The passage on which Mark drew for this song is the same one from which the Holy Father draws the title words for his new encyclical. Romans 8.18ff. I'll quote it below, but for now notice how the chain of thought begins & ends:
Our present sufferings are nothing next to the glory that will be revealed.... It all works for Good.
The pain is there. Undeniable, inescapable. But the pain is like the pain of childbirth, and much, much better is coming. In the meanwhile, we live in hope, the Spirit intercedes for us and shares our groanings, and the God Whom we love uses it all for Good. The pain will end, and it will be better one day. This is the Hope in which we are saved.
Here it is in KJV:
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
And here it is from the NAB at the USCCB site:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will. We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
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