Divine Dialogue of God with the Soul
Luke 12: 32-48
Things can happen suddenly, with far reaching effects.
Gil, a young man staying at a boarding house in 1938, worked at a local diner as a ‘short-order’ cook. Maddy was also living there because she needed a place to stay close to the Business School she was attending, and because Lottie, who ran the house, was her favorite aunt. Gil and Maddy never talked to each other except maybe to ask for the salt at table during the common meal. One day Maddy got up from the table, left the house, and ran through the rain to her car. Gil followed her, knocked on the car window before she pulled away, and when she rolled down the window he leaned in and said, “You drive carefully, now, because when you get back, I’m going to marry you!”
“Alright,” she managed to answer. And the rest is history. They married some months later, raised five children, and died within ten weeks of each other. August 6 was their wedding anniversary and my brothers and I were reminding each other this weekend of the gift they were to each of us. How privileged we feel to have had Maddy and Gil as parents, and we have little doubt that they and our brother and sister who are now with them are looking after us from their place in heaven.
(I have to tell you that a few hours before Maddy died, I asked her, “Are you afraid, Mom?” She looked up at me, smiled and whispered, “This is the happiest day of my life.”)
Dad was as surprised as Mom that rainy day, not only that Maddy said yes, but that he even asked her! On the spur of the moment he realized that he had fallen in love with this near stranger, and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Fortunately for him, Maddy suddenly realized she felt the same way about Gil. And for 68 years they kept on falling in love with each other, day after day. And with God, Who was the Center of their marriage.
Today’s Gospel talks about how suddenly death can happen, but Jesus wasn’t telling this parable to frighten us. Rather He wanted to remind us that it’s important to be ready because surprising things can happen without warning, like the summons to return Home to God. The way we live here on earth will determine the way we will continue to live in eternity. He wants us to be ready to say, ‘This is the happiest day of my life,” when we see God standing before us with arms outstretched to carry us Home. He wants us to recognize within ourselves that He is the one we want to spend the rest of our immortal life with. He wants us to be able to say, as He said on the Cross, “Father, into Your hands I commend my Spirit.”
What deep desire do you find within yourself when you still your spirit? Is it for material goods or for a financial inheritance that you won’t be able to carry with you? Or is it for a love that won’t fade, ever? Do you, at your core, long for the Light of Heaven to shine in your heart for all eternity? And do you desire to see the Face of God and spend forever falling in love with Him, over and over?
Jesus tells us He is a God of surprises.
Be ready for His surprises, no matter what they might be.
Be ready for Him, however He comes.
Be ready, at every moment.
Be.
God bless you.
and then