Word to the Wise
Monday, March 12, 2018 - 4th Week of Lent - Mon
[Isa 65:17-21 and John 4:43-54]I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying; no longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; he dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed. [Isaiah]
I returned a few days ago from a three-week round of preaching parish missions in South Florida. At two of the three parishes where I preached, the vast majority of the attendees were what are known as "snow-birds" who come to Florida for the Winter. I would hear the sounds of the Northeast and Midwest in the accents. Their presence, plus my own celebration of my 75th birthday while down there, made me think of the passage from Isaiah that is our first scripture today. I was once preaching a retreat for some retired Dominican sisters and this passage showed up in the scriptures. The sisters began to laugh when they heard it. Many of them were making a run at the century mark!
Old age was considered a singular blessing in the Bible, especially since archaeological evidence tells us that the average life-expectancy was probably in the forties! Jesus' age at death was about 33 and he would have been considered middle-aged! His mother would have been considered elderly. Our culture in the USA has only recently begun to pay attention to the importance of the elderly. TV commercials at news time in the evening are now
showing many more elderly. A long life is beginning to become an assumption rather than a rare blessing. Books on the spirituality are being written.
I was inspired by the faith of the people I met in South Florida. Some of them were coming back to the church after a long time away. Many of them were very active in their "winter parishes." I admit I have my own mixed feelings about entering the last quarter of my life, but I think Isaiah gives me something to shoot for, and the youth of the college students where I live adds extra energy to the effort. I hope I can enjoy the present "Jerusalem" as long as possible before I head to the "new one." AMEN