“The skipping stone passing across the pond of time
touched my heart as it made its way to eternity.”
- Anonymous
Nancy is never far from my mind…the voice, the humor, the
quiet and not so quiet moments…yeah, that girl is never far from my mind…
Reaching back…
The letter began, “To the eminently religious lady and holy
daughter Sapida, Augustine sends greeting in the Lord.” The exact date is
unknown, but it was written sometime after 429AD
Sapida had lost her brother for whom she had made a tunic. He
died before receiving it, so she sent it to Bishop Augustine who seldom
accepted gifts, because he felt it was important not to draw attention to himself.
In this case, he made an exception writing, “… lest I should increase the grief
of one who needs, as I perceive, much rather to be comforted by me;” He
continues,
“…apply yourself, I beseech you, to
far better and far greater consolations, in order that the cloud which, through
human weakness, gathers darkness closely round your heart, may be dissipated by
the words of divine authority; and, at all times, so live that you may live
with your brother, since he has so died that he lives still.”
Augustine brought a loving tenderness to this woman’s
sorrow, and ended his letter by reminding her that through faith, her brother
need not be far from her, with her love for him remaining embedded in her
heart.
Threads connect…
Henry Scott Holland was a Theologian at Oxford University
and had, among many other writers, studied St. Augustine.
In 1910, he became Regius (Latin for ‘Royal’) Professor of
Divinity. In May of that year King Edward VII died, and influenced by the
letter from St. Augustine to Sapida, he preached a sermon containing a poem he
had written.
"Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I
have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything
remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we
lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each
other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the
easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no
forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little
jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my
name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an
effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever
meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken
continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out
of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt;
nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we
shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!”
Reaching forward…
My friend Lizzie had been touched by this piece and thought
to send it to me. It came on a day when my late sister Nancy was in my thoughts
and heart. It came at a time when it was exactly what I needed to read and
‘hear.’ It came, I believe, because there was a need and that need (not the
specifics) was felt and answered.
It would be a stretch to suggest Augustine’s letter that so
touched Holland…so touched my friend Lizzie…so touched me, had an historical
purpose for the moment in time when my heart was heavy. It would NOT be a
stretch to suggest when minds open themselves to be led, the God of the
universe can exert His will for the betterment within the shared community of His
creatures.
Sapida
wrote…Augustine listened
Augustine
wrote…Holland listened
Holland wrote…Lizzie
listened
Lizzie wrote….
and benefit was attributed to all.
Sometimes in the apparently chaotic nature of all that is,
we get glimpses of the indefinable order that comes because it seems that God
watches us out of the corner of His eye to soothe the troubled soul.
Yeah, “Nancy is never far from my mind…”
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