Lunar Spirituality and coming home
By the year 2123 we shall all have been laid to rest beside our loved ones. The homes we live in now will belong to total strangers. The new car we have not even bought yet will be scrapped and sold to a stranger.
How many of us can remember the name of the father of our grandfather? A few years after our deaths, our photographs and history will fade away. There won’t be any trace of us left. We could be transformed people if we gave any thought to our eternal home.
The pursuit of more has left us with little time for the things that really matter: the hugs we missed, the kisses we never gave, the jokes we never told. These could bring us so much more happiness. (from Knowledge is Power by Lena Kravets).
In 2013 Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio urged his fellow cardinals to remember that Christians should live by the light of the moon rather than the sun. We should reflect the source of light rather than acting as if we are the source.
Understanding this lunar metaphor is crucial. The future Pope Francis said, “…the church exists to reflect Christ. Once it [the Church] believes it is itself the light, disaster occurs, and the church becomes an idol.”
Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “Full solar spirituality focuses on staying in the light of God around the clock, both absorbing and reflecting the sunny side of faith. You can usually recognize a full solar church by its…sure sense of God’s presence, certainty of belief, divine guidance in all things, and reliable answers to prayer” (2014 Learning to Walk in the Dark).
“Some day you will read in the papers that [K. P. Rolheiser] is dead. Don’t believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all…
“I will have a body that death cannot touch; that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body” (from D. L. Moody, 19th century Evangelist who addressed 100 million Americans in his time).
It is really up to us how we approach the final chapter of our lives. I have spoken to seniors living with cancer and pain and struggling to keep going. They showed me the good news that we can trust in God’s love and in his goodness beyond the trials of this short life.
God will not forget all our life-time good deeds as we work and raise a family and serve our communities. Many sitting in that retirement chair with wheels may forget all the wonderful things they have done in their lives. God does not forget.
Jane Marczewski, Nightbirde from America’s Got Talent, faced death with
Cancer in her lungs, spine and liver, but still sang of her joy - “It’s ok, it’s ok” - too many times to count.
“You can go down to those dark roads and stay there because it's so tragic, or you can go down those dark roads and come back. … You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy,” Marczewski said.
In the end, it’s our choice. We can choose God, and we can be happy. We may stray from the straight and narrow at times during our lives, but as Billy Graham said, “My friends, you can come back. God is waiting for you. … It’s time to come home.”
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