AT REST IN CHRIST – A PEACE THE WORLD CANNOT GIVE
A Reflection for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Mt 11: 25-30)
THE early morning sun struck its first shafts of warmth through the panels and bezels of the stained glass wall of St Francis Xavier's Parish church near North Sydney station, bringing colour to the dim foyer, wherein rested the oak coffin awaiting the gathering of the family and mourners who had come for the farewell.
We had come to attend the Requiem Mass for the sister of a close friend of ours, a lady who had spent her lifetime in the service of the poor, in works of social justice, inspired by the life and work of Jesus Christ; her every moment founded on love for neighbour and compassion for the crowd, until sickness had taken from her the life she loved to live for others.
The church was full. As the Mass proceeded, as eulogy became Gospel and communion became commendation, the sun's ascent into the sky turned the stained glass wall into a blazing kalaidescope of praise for a woman whose life had brought such hope to many.
St. Matthew, in today's Gospel, hints at a secret hidden in the heart of God, which can only be uncovered by a life of humble service when he says, “You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and have revealed them to little ones.”
Nothing but the urge to know the heart of God can explain the decision to take on Christ's yoke; nothing else can explain the choice to work not for gain but for justice, not for power but for equality, not for commerce but for charity, putting aside these things even as Christ put aside the warrior horse and rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
The final notes of Ennio Morricone's 'Gabriel's Oboe' lifted us on high, then left us sad as the casket was borne out on the shoulders of family and friends, but with hearts strangely at peace: a peace that the world did not give; a peace that came from the understanding that to die in Christ is to live forever.
Image: Fr Lawrence Lew OP
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