You have kept the best wine till now... (John 2:10, from last Sunday's Gospel)
Several times I've heard older religious say to younger ones that the best is yet to come. There is a smile in their eyes as they say this, and quiet certainty in their voice. At one level this assertion can seem strange: after all, as someone ages the best - of health, physical energy, fitness, memory, eyesight and hearing - has already been and gone or else is slowly departing. But there is another, deeper, more mysterious level, which I am now beginning to understand.
This past year, in many ways, has been the hardest since the year my parents died. And yet I can truly say that in among all the pain, loss and anger, the heartache, weariness and many headaches, there has been grace and God's fidelity in abundance. I have known very surely and powerfully that God is my hundredfold, the supreme 'compensation' for anything I might not have. It may have been the worst of years, but it has also been the best, because during it I have known profound joy and grace in my vocation, known myself to be in love with being an RSCJ as much as I am in love with God.
A friend who is a missionary priest recently said I'm amazed at how I just keep falling more and more in love with my vocation as each year passes. I realised he was echoing what I had been feeling - the in love-ness and delight and the quiet amazement at it. And I wondered - maybe this is what they mean when they say the best is yet to come...
You have kept the best wine till now...
I knew supreme joy when I entered and when I made my vows - the sweet, delightful effervescence of Prosecco or even a good champagne. But now I am sipping something more robust and generous; still with an underlying sweetness, but a good deal more body and substance. And the good news is, delicious though it is, I really do believe this is by no means the best wine in God's cellar. The best is yet to come...
Several times I've heard older religious say to younger ones that the best is yet to come. There is a smile in their eyes as they say this, and quiet certainty in their voice. At one level this assertion can seem strange: after all, as someone ages the best - of health, physical energy, fitness, memory, eyesight and hearing - has already been and gone or else is slowly departing. But there is another, deeper, more mysterious level, which I am now beginning to understand.
This past year, in many ways, has been the hardest since the year my parents died. And yet I can truly say that in among all the pain, loss and anger, the heartache, weariness and many headaches, there has been grace and God's fidelity in abundance. I have known very surely and powerfully that God is my hundredfold, the supreme 'compensation' for anything I might not have. It may have been the worst of years, but it has also been the best, because during it I have known profound joy and grace in my vocation, known myself to be in love with being an RSCJ as much as I am in love with God.
You have kept the best wine till now...
I knew supreme joy when I entered and when I made my vows - the sweet, delightful effervescence of Prosecco or even a good champagne. But now I am sipping something more robust and generous; still with an underlying sweetness, but a good deal more body and substance. And the good news is, delicious though it is, I really do believe this is by no means the best wine in God's cellar. The best is yet to come...
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