Our imagination can be very rewarding on our spiritual
journey. We must know, visualize and sometimes it takes our imagination to
understand that God is with us every step of our journey.
Imagine our Lord saying to you, “Oh my people, I will open
your graves and have you rise from them”.
I remember, when I was young, and passing through a cemetery
at night. I’ve taken this path many
times before, but this was shortly after listening to this exact reading, “I
will open your graves and have you rise from them”. Naturally, my imagination
began to wander. It was pitch dark and the only sound was that of an owl
hooting. I’m sure that owl hooted every time I walked through that cemetery,
but tonight I heard it.
And, as I walked
further and further passed the graves, I swore I heard all kind of noises
coming from those very grave sites. Then the the old black and white version of
the movie the “Zombies’ came to my mind. And I began to imagine these
creatures, one arm at a time, bone by bone, pushing through the earth and
watching me. Wasn’t sure if they had appetites, or what zombies ate. I just
told God that now was not a good time to open up those graves.
I prayed and the words of Jesus came to me, “I am with you
always” and I pictured Jesus walking next to me, side by side, yet leading and
comforting me.
Yes, that was some imagination, but in that imagination
there was faith. Faith in the fact that I pictured
and believed that Jesus was walking this journey with me.
Many recent readings are concerned with death and the
resurrection to newness of life.
And there are grave yard scenes, we see a tomb, the ultimate
place of death and decay. We see prayers, extreme faith, a miracle and joy.
We have Lazarus. Mary
and Martha sent word to Jesus. But before Jesus arrived, his illness became
fatal and sadness and hurt and even anger, overcame the two sisters. But if we
look closely at the reading there was also hope, there was crucial and critical
faith, for Martha says to Jesus when he arrived, “But even now I know that
whatever you ask of God, God will give you”. That was a prayer of faith.
And there was weeping and Jesus became troubled and he was
extremely upset and Jesus wept. Yes,
Jesus wept, tears of sorrow, tears no different than ours for the loose of someone
close.
They remove the stone and Jesus prays. Jesus prays for the
glory of God, not his glory. He prays with the faith that we all must have. And
then he shouts.
“Lazarus, come out”. Imagine
Lazarus, laying in a prepared burial fashion, hands and feet tied and his face
wrapped in a cloth.
He manages to stagger to the entrance of the tomb and people
are in awe – the dead man came out. There is no conversation between Jesus and
Lazarus, but I can imagine there was much said between the hearts of these two
friends, their souls joined as they stood there both reflecting on that moment.
And I can imagine that every time Lazarus went into his inner room to pray, he
placed himself in that loving image of Jesus, talking to him again from his
heart.
We are called to be always in the Spirit, and that requires
prayer, yes, unceasing prayer and talking to God, it is having Jesus by our
side.
No one is spared death
and the grave swallows up the righteous and the sinner alike.
But how we choose to
live this life will decide where we spend eternity. Our weapon to heaven is
prayer.
Our journey with Jesus begins at Baptism and we need to
remember there will be hardships, temptation and our weaknesses will be become
our crosses, but Jesus said, “I am with you always. Yes, believe and visually
imagine Jesus with you every moment -allow him to guide your steps to heaven.
Lazarus is a symbol of all of us – dead to God and bound by
sin. And, like Lazarus, each of is loved by Jesus. Jesus weeps over our suffering and calls us
by name to come out of our tombs of unbelief, self-centeredness, and ineffectiveness.
In the face of death we are encouraged to choose life, and
life can be found only in Christ, and his cross.
Yes, we will rise from our graves on the last day, but even
now we can rise with Jesus daily. He
promised it and we can experience it as we unite ourselves to him.
There is a story about a
Catholic priest who stopped by to see a patient in a hospital room to say hello
and asked how the elderly man was doing. "My doctors say I'm dying,"
replied the man, and I'm actually excited about it. I know I'm going to be with
Jesus."
The
priest asked how he could be so cheerful about death. The old man said, when I
was younger I grew very discouraged about prayer. I tried to pray, but Jesus
never seemed to be there and I never seemed to get an answer. So I just went
through the motions. During a retreat a mission priest told me how common that
was with prayer.
"The mission priest said, 'You'll have to become like a child. You know
how little kids talk to their teddy bears? And get an answer? They use their
imagination. Well, Jesus is really there when we pray, but we can't see him,
unless we use our imagination.
Choose
a room, the mission priest said, where you have some privacy. Put a chair in
the room, and picture Jesus in the chair. See him in his robe and sandals, if
you want. Then just talk to him in your own words. Tell him what you're upset
about and what you're happy about.
Do this every day, soon it will take less time
to get comfortable with Jesus, and easier to talk with him.
Then
try this: After you have had your say, just be quiet and listen. 'You'll hear
Jesus speak to your heart. The God, who made you, can put ideas, memories, and
images into your head, and that's how God talks to you and answers your
prayers.'"
"So
I tried it," the old man said, "and it worked! It wasn't long before
Jesus would sit right there and talk with me, and we've become the best of friends.
See this chair next to my bed? That's for
Jesus. When the doctors told me I would die soon, I waited until they left the
room. Then I invited Jesus
to come in and sit down, and I told him what the doctors said. 'I know, Jesus
answered, 'I heard them. And I'm happy because we'll soon get to see each other
face to face. That chair is special to me.
"That's
why I'm excited about dying," the old man continued, "because I can't
wait to be with my friend, Jesus." The priest was overwhelmed and, choking
back tears, said he wanted to visit again.
But
when he returned a few days later, he saw the man's daughter in the hall
outside his room, crying. "He just died," she told the priest.
"I left his room to get a bite to eat, and when I came back he was gone. I
know he was ready, she said but what bothers me is how he must have suffered in
his last moments.
When I found him, he was halfway out of bed,
and his head was on that
chair next to his bed."
The
priest took her hand and smiled. "Let's take a minute to talk," he
said. "There's a story I need to tell you about that chair."
