The Unsophisticated Christ
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and we have shown them to be babies. Indeed Father, this brings you happiness.” Matthew 11:25
“One of the great struggles of contemporary North America is the decay of community. We see it in our inner cities, and we see it in our suburban neighborhoods. People have stopped taking responsibility for one another because we no longer know each other. We no longer belong to one another. We no longer live in communion with one another.”
-Br. James Koester
Hadrian Israel said: “The greatest revolution in history is the one that commands us to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.” We spend our time trying to analyze scripture, and why people do what they do, but ultimately it is in the unsophistication of being child- like in which we see all that matters is to love one another, and in the end that is all that matters. Someone commented watching me one night: “Those guys become like children in your hands.” And they do, because I become like a child with them–non-threatening, non-judging, and caring.
I have found that in looking at befriending my death that life, and the “things” of life become much simpler. Here it is the end of July, each day passes faster and faster, and I realize that my time on earth is passing. Each ache, each pain, reminds me I need to face the reality of my ending. I have held the hands of several young men dying this year, I have seen so many hurt by violence. And so in the days ahead I am focusing on befriending my death–Henri Nouwen once wrote:
“How can we prepare ourselves for our death in such away that our dying will be a new way for us to send out God’s spirit to those whom we have loved and who have loved us?”
Rather than leaving material items behind–what are leaving in spirit that speaks of God’s love towards us and towards others? Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
+Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min.
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
415-305-2124
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