FINDING GOD IN ALL THINGS
By Fr Ross Jones SJ, Rector of St Aloysius’ College, Milsons Point
Way back in the late sixteenth century, forty Portuguese and Spanish Jesuits were martyred at sea by Calvinist pirates while on their way to the missions in Brazil. One of them was Blessed Pedro de Fontoura SJ. He once wrote, “At the end of the journey they will ask me, ‘Have you lived? Have you loved?’ And I, without saying a word, will open a heart filled with names.”
Pedro’s self-description and realisation underscores what the twin feasts of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day mean for us who celebrate them. Both our human nature and our faith constantly weave together people and remembrance.
Australia is a nation of storytellers. We love telling yarns. They come easily. And they are spun engagingly. On All Saints’ Day we recall stories of what heroic and ordinary people did for others in their lives building up God’s kingdom. On All Souls’ Day the scope is more local as we remember those who have touched our own lives deeply. It is a day we simultaneously commend them to God and hold them in our hearts.
That is because death ends a life, not a relationship. Our language begins to crack when we try to describe this because, paradoxically, the absence of one whom we have loved and lost still has its own presence. And that is the place of remembered stories. Recollections that warm us, affirm us, challenge us, amuse us, comfort us, inspire us. Just as St Paul wrote, “The life and death of each of us has its influence on others.”
As a consequence, such memories also make this a day of “thank you” for the gifts and the blessing that so many people were to us – especially the dearest, closest ones to us. And our faith tells us that those thanks will be heard.
Throughout November we remember all those who have died, and we ask in hope that none who have are lost to God’s love. We can ask this hopefully as Jesus himself told the parable of the prodigal son who did such terrible things to his family, especially his loving father. Yet the father forgave everything and celebrated his son’s return, not with a lecture or punishment, but with new clothes, a ring for his finger and a big feast.
Jesus also told the story of the woman who lost a little coin in her home and went looking for it, sweeping the house clean, turning everything upside down, top to bottom, until she found it. Just one little coin. Then she threw a street party in celebration. Sounds crazy.
But that is Jesus explaining how much God does not want to lose any of us. Everyone is of worth. God wants us all to join him in heaven. And mix with the great saints whose stories we have been telling and re-telling for years. And be one with them. At home.
A number of years ago now, I heard a poem penned by the then American Poet Laureate, Billy Collins. He also happens to be a Jesuit Old Boy. His verse is called ‘The Dead’. It is quirky but quintessentially human:
The dead are always looking down on us, they say.
while we are putting on our shoes or eating a steak,
they are looking down through the glass bottom boats of heaven
as they row themselves slowly through eternity.
They watch the tops of our heads moving below on earth,
and when we lie down in a field or on a couch,
drugged perhaps by the hum of a long afternoon,
they think we are looking back at them,
which makes them lift their oars and fall silent
and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.
A beautifully reassuring image, I think. The dead have not left us. They see us still. Their love is lavish as ever. As it describes: waiting “like parents for us to close our eyes”. Parents looking fondly over a child about to nod off into sleep. Their care continues as though they were with us as always.
So let us pause now. Perhaps close your eyes. Create a space in your heart, or in your mind’s eye. Remember, relive and bring to the present, those whom you love who are now in God’s embrace. Allow to surface a familiar image, a characteristic word or phrase, a significant place, a graced moment, a loving face. Remember. Remember and give thanks. To God. And to them.
This was originally published in a recent edition of ‘The Gonzagan’ newsletter for St Aloysius’ College, Milsons Point.
Banner image by Tania Ryan, Canva.
To enquire about becoming a Jesuit in Australia, contact vocations@sjasl.org.au and for more info, visit our Vocations page.