In one of Jesus' most striking stories, a rich man decides to knock down all his barns and storehouses, and build even bigger ones in which to keep the immense wealth he has accrued. He expects that he will then be able to sit back and enjoy his wealth over many years. But that night God says to him, "You fool! This night your soul is required of you. And all the material things you have worked for - whose will they be?"
If we knew just when we were going to die, we would view life from a completely different perspective. Many of the things we worry about would simply cease to be important to us. Many of the things we choose to do day by day would suddenly seem trivial, and we would want to spend time and energy on different things. This is a very common experience when someone in a family is facing a terminal illness: they and everyone around them discover what really matters to them, which is usually the relationships within the family and the simple pleasures that all can enjoy.
We in the developed countries have grown so accustomed to a feeling of being safe, that we rarely see this other perspective. We are, in general, safe from the kinds of illness or disease which used to be killers before the advent of antibiotics, and which still are, in many parts of the world. We are mostly safe from the threat of sudden death by accident, violence, or war. We live our lives as if nothing could really hurt us, and yet that very sense of safety prevents us from living with the immediacy that Jesus urged on his followers.
Perhaps one of the results of the horrifying events of September 11, and their aftermath of war and fear, especially the fear of renewed terrorist attacks and perhaps the use of chemical or germ weapons, has been that many people in the West have also begun to think seriously about mortality. Mortality is our common human lot: the one absolute statistic, whatever else is unequal in life, is that 100% of us will die. In this we are entirely one with those who died in the World Trade Center and those who were responsible; with the ordinary people of Afghanistan and with the leaders who make decisions about continued military action against their country.
In this time of danger and uncertainty, when so many of the things we thought we could absolutely depend on have come under threat, the traditional prayers of the Church can provide a great resource. The Litany is not often used nowadays, but its prayers come from a time when that sort of threat was much better understood. In the Litany we pray:
That it may please thee to succour, help, and comfort, all who are in danger, necessity, and tribulation;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to preserve all who travel by land, by water, all women labouring of child, all sick persons, and young children; and to show thy pity upon all prisoners and captives;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to defend, and provide for, the fatherless children, and widows, and all who are desolate and oppressed;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth, so that in due time we may enjoy them;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give us true repentance; to forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
Published in the Marston Times, November 2001