Thursday, October 04, 2007

An Oldie and Then Some

I wrote the following two years ago today, during an October in which I attended four funerals and was thus repeatedly pulled back into my own life. This October it's been Lisa's death in Funky Winkerbean that's done the job.

Two years ago was also the October in which I began my real aquaintance with Ignatian spirituality, which would lead to me to the quote from Karl Rahner, Jesuit and great Catholic theoloian, I am adding tonight. I think it explans what's been going on in Funky Winkerbean.


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But You Don't Know


It must have been an evening just like this, warm and hazy, the sun lingering on the horizon.

Our two families lived on a hillside out in the country, separated by a small woods and a short gravel road, and my grandmother told me that she had come over to our house, for desert I think. I don't know if my grandfather was with her. At any rate, the adults talked for awhile in the kitchen.

"The baby's already down," my mother said. "Would you like to go in and take a peek?"


"Oh, no," said my grandmother. "I don't want to disturb him. I'll see you tomorrow."


If I had only known, she would say later. If I had only known. Meaning, If I had only known that I would never see either one of them again.


And then, when she told that story, she would always say that as she walked home she could hear my mother singing through the kitchen window as she did the dishes.

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[The chalice of the Holy Spirit] is drunk only by those who have slowly learned in little ways to taste the fullness in emptiness, the ascent in the fall, life in death, the finding in renunciation.


(Karl Rahner, S.J.)

10 comments:

Katherine E. said...

Beautiful...and so sad.

Praying for you tonight, GG.

RevDrKate said...

Takes my breath away GG. Prayers to you.

more cows than people said...

thank you for introducing me to this strip.

and thank you for sharing its intersection with your own memories.

and may God be with you, dear GG.

Jan said...

Dear GG, thank you. The story in Funky is so beautiful, and I only know about it because of you. Love to you and prayers.

Diane M. Roth said...

yes, prayers to you... beautiful remembrances and quote too.

emmapeelDallas said...

Takes my breath away, too...beautiful...I'm thinking of you.

J

Anonymous said...

I remember that poignant entry. Thank you for bringing Funky Winkerbean back into my life and introducing me to Karl Rahner. I'll have to find and read some more.

Recent events have made me more aware of and appreciative of little things and big, beautiful things. Every day that I can put two feet on the floor and walk is fabulous Yesterday, I got to walk with an old friend under clear blue October skies; we had been trading phone messages for months. What more could I ask?

Terri said...

Oh, GG...

Law+Gospel said...

Reading this the day after one of my daughter's friends lost her Dad. Foggy morning, didn't see the truck when he pulled out onto the highway. Every day is a gift. This is beautiful.

Gannet Girl said...

Oh, lawandgospel.