One Another

This quote from Desmond Tutu, especially the last line, was quite funny when I first read it. But it has since hovered seriously over me.

God loves us so much that He waits to welcome us all home to heaven, with special consideration to sinners, to strugglers and stragglers.

So does that mean if one follows the Ten Commandments, one is home free? And that vain, selfish gossip around the corner who habitually bears false witness against her neighbors – she gets a pass, too, right? How necessary then, are those added activities of attending retreats, helping the poor, visiting the sick, comforting the lonely, and all that extra “service to others” stuff?

My question seemed to echo that of the older son in the parable of The Prodigal Son. How fair was it that the return of a gallivanting son who finished all his inheritance on self-indulgent pursuits deserves a warm and joyous celebration from the father, no questions asked, but not the filial dedication of the son who stayed home and did all the work?

I did receive an answer, unprecedented and rather startling.

Recently, while meditating on the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, I imagined the happy beneficiaries of all the miracles Jesus had wrought, the joy and compassion he had spread, the way he spent day after faithful day bringing the good news of God to the trenches. In return, they were now dispatching him to Calvary – mocked, abandoned, and bleeding profusely from the cruel lashing and thorn-crowning.

Suddenly and so unexpectedly, I began to weep in sorrow over the unfairness of it all, crying out to Jesus: Why didn’t you fight back??!!  His tender answer was quick:

HOW ELSE COULD I HAVE SHOWN YOU WHAT LOVE IS?

Then his powerful parting words came rolling back like gentle thunder.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.

Christ showed us what love is all about, beyond all imagining. But it doesn’t stop there. What he has given us, he asks us to give to one another.

God did not create and put me on earth to learn fairness. He placed me here out of love that I may live my life in love. Yes, He even sent Jesus to make sure we got it right. And getting it right means looking out for one another, sharing God’s relentless graces, so hopefully, no one gets left behind, and each can go home in one glorious piece to the Father. It doesn’t matter who does more work than whom.

I must be more than “ten-commandment” obedient. I must be “love-one-another-as-I-have- loved-you” strong, so I can help pull a struggler away from the cliff, just as I have been snatched to safety from the precipice by a strong another. Countless perilous times. After all, God gave us the power to choose, and if I were careless and feeling alone, I could go careening down that dark, deadly abyss to the evil glee of the abysmal monster waving his pitchfork.

So I cling for my life to Christ, our loving Good Shepherd, who tends to us constantly and asks us to likewise be good shepherds for one another.

To be God’s message of love and compassion to one another. Even when it’s inconvenient, disturbing our schedule. Or irritating, disturbing our nerves. Or exhausting, disturbing the limits to our generosity. Or agonizing, disturbing our refusal to forgive.

That’s what the “extra credit” is all about! To perhaps rattle us out of our comfortable attachments or complacency or indifference to events and people outside our private orbit or personal preference. Yes, to love one another as Christ loves us. Inclusive. Encompassing. Life-giving. Life-saving.

Now, about heaven. True, I might be surprised to find some people there. But I suspect my own presence might leave some in downright dismay. Heaven could be a big surprise party! Meanwhile, to get there, I am humbly, gratefully depending on that Divine soft spot for sinners and trying, praying, not to wear out my place in it.

Strugglers or stragglers all, but oh, how so absolutely loved we are! And how our Father, with delightful abandon and unabashed joy, waits to welcome us home to the eternal celebration He has laid out for us!

This musing is dedicated to my brother Ruben, SJ, whose life, in profound gratitude and love, reflected the continuous and mutual sharing of God’s graces.