Delivered at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler on July 30th 2007
by Fr Tim Kelly Pastor Saint Mary Magdalene Parish Flint TX
Scripture John 11. the raising of Lazarus
Literary inspiration. G.K. Chesterton. William Butler Yeats, George Bernard. Shaw
An early harvest
Death is the great offender which brings tears to glad
eyes and pain to the fondest heart. The harvest has come early for Wes, thirty
years too soon for us all.
Death brings tears, brings them dripping slow to the
fairest and the most loving cheeks. Yet on the face of an old widow they are
mature and full like a great wine that has had time to vintage. The tears of
great age are tears of great sadness but they are also tears of fulfillment. But
today is a harvest of young grapes, of wine that has not yet had its full sun,
of life not yet aged by sun and wind to where it yields up its vintage with the
full assent of nature. This is our early and bitter vintage. This wine we taste
is bitter to our tongue and sharp on our palate. We are to drink the bitter
grapes of wrath. We are to drink and yet not be satisfied. There is no
sweetness or fulfillment in this cup which we taste today.
Yet the Son of God had to drink of this cup. He, so
young and so vital saw his friend Lazarus dead and buried prematurely. He wept
at the graveside of his friend bitter tears of resentment and anger at the
bitter harvest. In his place as God’s only Son, he brings back his friend so
that his broken-hearted sisters may have their brother. For two weeks after
this great event at Bethany, he himself is crucified on Calvary. Even the Son
of God must taste the bitter early wine, the untimely wine, the sharp sword of
a death out of season.
Yet is our sorrow full of hope. For this Christ, this
Son of God, who wept with bitter tears and broken heart at the grave of Lazarus
his friend, has given us a lasting memorial of that event. Take this all of you
and drink it. This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant.” This Son of God
Most High knew that we could not stomach all that pain and all that suffering.
We cannot drink for too long at that bitter fountain. For too long a suffering
will make a stone of the heart. Christ who loves us and who knows our exile and
our forsakenness, gives us a sweet cup to drink - to sweeten even the bitterest
grapes of wrath. In our pain and in our shattered sadness, let us never imagine
that we are left alone. We have a drink that will bring us joy in the saddest
moment. It will bring us sweetness on the bitterest hour. It will slake the
driest thirst. For we have the cup of salvation, the blood of the Lord Himself
to drink, the sweetest of all drinks.
Wes has
gone away from us and sadness hangs on the air. This has been too early a
harvest, too soon a parting. This is too raw and sharp for us to take in. Yet
we cling to Christ and to his sweet Eucharist. The grapes of wrath have stung
us this day with bitter wine and vinegar. But the Lord Jesus did not give us
vinegar for our drink at Cana in Gallalee. No, when the people needed cheer, it
was Jesus who gave them the best of wine for their comfort. No vinegar from our
God. Always the warm cheer of wine to warm the broken heart. GK Chesterton once
wrote;
“Wherever
the Catholic sun doth shine
There’s music and laughter and rich red wine
At
least I’ve always found it so
Bendicamus Domino.”
Hang out your brightest colors so that death is
mocked. Sing with a full heart to rob him of his triumph. Drink with abandon of
the sweet vintage of our God. Lie down upon the breast of Jesus and take
comfort there as a child rests on its mother’s breasts. Let no sadness conquer
you. You have not been left without some comfort. The Lord himself comes to you
in Holy Communion to be your comfort in your pain. Drink deep from the
sweetness of the Lord.
The Lord
gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Sorrowful Mother at the Cross
Detail from the Cimabue painted crucifix at Arezzo Cathedral