Fr. Bob - Facing the Pain
Shortly before he died of a glioblastoma brain tumor a friend of mine told his son something that I had to think about. “The greatest gift a parent can give to their son or daughter is to teach them how to face pain.”
Each of us here knows of some pain in our lives. It’s the pain that comes with living. Whether we want it or not like an unwelcome guest, the pain comes knocking at our door. We don’t want to answer, hoping that it will go away, but it doesn’t.
In a very unexpected way pain came knocking on the door of a young couple I did the wedding for at St. Victoria just a little over a year ago. I was notified this week that the young bride who was married, that beautiful October day was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer just four months ago. She now is in hospice with just days left to live. Her young husband Jack asked if I could come. With a snowstorm on its way I arrived at the house, Thursday afternoon.
I walked into the room. I was quiet. Jack her husband was there at her side holding her hand. Kristin had lost her hair but there was “a beauty” about her. Seeing her made me think of how she looked on her wedding day when the two of them pledged their love to each other.
“I, promise to be true to you, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health I will love and honor you all the days of my life”. Both are courageously facing the pain of a situation they never could have dreamed of that beautiful October afternoon, the day they were married.
In the Gospel passage for today we hear the story of another young couple courageously faces the pain of a situation they never saw coming. The young woman is found with child, but she doesn’t know who the father is. The young man she is betrothed to doesn’t know either. Neither of them can understand how this happened but they are facing the pain and awkwardness of the situation together.
Everyone here has faced situations that we don’t understand and have brought pain to our lives. Like the young couples I just spoke of, the invitation is to face the pain together with courage and trust. Fatih tells us that God is with us in the pain. We know that because God became one of us. And while here on earth The Christ born among us was no stranger to pain.
As the Advent season comes to a close and Christmas draws near as we celebrate his birth may we remember that the child born among us is still among us. He is there with us in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, he will love and honor us, all the days of our lives. And just knowing that might make all the difference.