Friday Gospel Recharge
A reflection on Luke 8: 1-3
(24th Friday of Ordinary Time, Year B of the Liturgical Calendar, 2024)
Unfadingly merciful: through all time and circumstances
Since my
time at the hospital as a chaplain in palliative care, I have found the work
highly challenging. Breaking the ice with the dying and their loved ones is
often difficult. The phrase “I’m sorry” is the first thing that comes to mind when
I attempt to offer words of comfort, though I recognise that it is insufficient
and often ill-timed. On one occasion, I mistakenly offered condolences to the
family of a dying patient who, in fact, was still alive. Despite these
struggles, I have been told that palliative care is a significant and important
ministry.
More recently, I encountered a woman nearing the end of her
life, with whom I had journeyed from the beginning of her time in care. This experience
was different. My supervisor encouraged me to visit her, given that many of my previous
attempts had often felt like missed connections rather than encounters. This particular
patient experienced profound anxiety about death and took comfort in anyone’s
presence. She was a gentle woman, and I found a quiet joy in simply sitting
with her. While my presence may have provided her comfort, it was she who
offered me a valuable opportunity for growth. I learned that enduring silence
with the dying is a vital aspect of end-of-life-care, a lesson that shaped my understanding
of this ministry.
Through these sessions with her, I learned fragments of her
life. She lacked the energy to speak much, yet she shared enough to reveal the
source of her anxiety about her nearing death. She had been christened as an
evangelical and attended church services that taught it was a sin to breathe
sideways. When an irrational fear is instilled from the pulpit throughout one’s
life, it is no surprise that she would carry that anxiety with her toward the
end of life.
Like all of us, she was a sinner, though I did not know the
specifics of her past. Whatever her sins may have been, we are all culpable
when we sin. In today’s Gospel, Luke tells us that Jesus cured many women who
were tormented by demons, one of whom had seven demons cast out. The
significance of this number should not be overlooked, particularly for those
who fear death, which, in truth, includes all of us. Luke emphasises that Mary
Magdalene was a great sinner, so much so that her life was vulnerable to
demonic possession. Her many sins left her bound by the devil.
What Luke the Evangelists seeks to convey is that the
gravity or the number of our sins does not matter to God, as He always remains
ready to forgive us. He has shown us this through the person of Mary Magdalene.
We need not fear death if we approach God as sorrowful sinners. Death cannot
separate us from God if we have the conviction to turn from sin and the courage
to seek forgiveness. Even in our final moments, Jesus stands ready to forgive. A
spec of His mercy is more powerful than all our sins combined. Our task,
therefore, is to follow Him in the sacrament and to live as repentant sinners. In
doing so, He will free us from the bondage of sin, the very sin that allows the
devil to enter in our lives and make us spiritually sick.
We are often shaped by what we seek. If we desire to be with
God, where peace and prosperity reigns, our hearts must be conformed to His
will. A key part of His will is His desire to forgive us and liberate us from
sin. Let us turn to God in prayer, asking for His mercy, so that the temptations
of the devil may no longer hold power over us.
