DEADLINE for the May 21 st edition of The Valley Catholic is Friday , May 3 rd .
The Valley Catholic Commentary
April 23 , 2013 13
‘ God ’ s hands are much gentler and safer than our own .’
One of my jobs as a priest is to preside and preach at funerals . Never an easy task . The deep truths of our faith which can be so consoling at other times often don ’ t spin their magic when death is still raw .
Later on they can do their work ; but , at a funeral , the pain is often too all-absorbing for the words of faith to effectively break through and do much in the way of real consolation . Their full effect will take place in a way and in a time that respects the rhythm of human grief . One sentence of consolation that I do often offer at a funeral is this : He is now in hands safer than ours . She is now in hands much gentler than our own .
The truth of those words can be particularly consoling when the deceased is a young person , someone whom we feel still needs the hands of an earthly mother and father and with whom we would want to trade places because we feel that he or she is too young to have to leave us and go off in death , alone .
That is also true in the case of someone who dies in a far-from-ideal manner , suicide or a senseless accident . Our unspoken fear is always that there should have been more time , that we should have done something more , been more vigilant , been more supportive , and we worry about a loved one departing this earth in such a way .
We have this same anxiety about someone who dies and has had a life that somehow never seemed to be free of bad circumstances and frustration , and we wish we could do something to make things better . In each of these cases , nothing can be more consoling than to believe that our loved one is now in far safer and gentler hands .
But , is this wishful thinking ? Not if Jesus can be believed ! Everything that Jesus reveals about God assures us that God ’ s hands are much gentler and safer than our own .
God is the father of the prodigal son and , as we see in that parable , God is more understanding and compassionate to us than we are to ourselves . God does not wait for us to return and apologize after we stray and betray . God runs out to meet us and doesn ’ t
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In safer hands than ours …
ask for an apology .
Jesus gives us the assurance that God does not give us just one chance , but 77 times seven chances . We don ’ t ruin our lives forever by making a mistake or by making that mistake again . Finally , in St . Paul ’ s farewell message in his Letter to the Romans , he assures us that in the end nothing can separate us from God ’ s love and forgiveness . We are , in this life and the next , in hands far safer and gentler .
God is not a God of punishment , but a God of forgiveness . God is not a God who records our sins , but who washes them away . God does not demand perfection but asks for a contrite heart when we can ’ t measure up . God gives us infinite chances , and comes
By father ron rolheiser
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searching for us , full of understanding and care .
God is not powerless before evil and death , and can raise dead bodies to life and redeem what is evil and hopeless . God is utterly reliable in his promise and goodness . God fashioned the depth of the universe and the deepest recesses of the human psyche .
Ultimately , God is not a God who cannot protect us , but is a God in whose hands and in whose promise we are far safer than when we rely upon ourselves .
• Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser , theologian , teacher , and award-winning author , is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio , TX . He can be contacted through his website www . ronrolheiser . com .
DEADLINE for the May 21 st edition of The Valley Catholic is Friday , May 3 rd .
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