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| Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) |
A few years
ago I saw a program about Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), the English
physicist who was confined to a wheelchair because of Lou Gehrig’s
disease, but whose brain was working perfectly. He was an
extra-ordinary genius. He wrote A brief history of time,
attempting to explain the origins of the universe. I tried reading it, but it was beyond me! Over fifty years
ago he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and he was told he
had at best two years to live. Up until his death in 2018 he was still doing
ground-breaking work in physics, although the only muscle he could
still move was one of his cheeks. There was a small sensor beside his
cheek, which was attached to a computer. By moving his cheek he was
able to speak to people and continue working through his computer. No
doubt one of the reasons why he was still alive was his will to live.
He had an extraordinary determination to keep going.
There is so
much more to being alive than just physical health, although that is
what we all wish for. Many people would consider that life would not
be worth living if you were in the physical state that Stephen
Hawking was in, and yet look at what he did.
For a few
years I used to work in a hospital as chaplain in my hometown of
Galway. I often saw people who, having lost the will to live, would
go down-hill very quickly and die. I also saw people who were told
that they would probably not recover, but because they were
absolutely determined to keep going, they would recover, often
completely against the odds. One of the key differences between
those who keep going and those who don’t is something spiritual:
hope. When we have hope we can keep going even against the odds. If
we have no hope, we may not survive even the ordinary.
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| Franciscan Friars of the Renewal |
Several years
ago in a housing subdivision called Moyross, in Limerick city—one
of the toughest and most troubled areas of that city—a new group of
Religious moved in. They are called the Franciscan Friars of the
Renewal, which were started by Fr. Benedict Goreschel in the Bronx,
New York. They live very like the Missionaries of Charity (Mother
Teresa’s order) in poverty and simplicity. The area was transformed, for the simple reason that they have given the people
there new hope. By moving in to that troubled neighborhood, they have shown those people that
they are worth something and that in itself has given them new hope.
Because we
believe that God wants us to be happy, to live life in all its
fullness, that gives us hope which we are inspired to pass on to
others. Because we have hope we are able to work to promote and
strengthen married life, even when it is going wrong; we continue to work
with younger people and encourage them not to give up, even when their lives have been destroyed through drugs, or alcohol; we continue to work for
justice and peace often in very difficult circumstances. Our faith in
God gives us hope, which in turn inspires others to keep going. Think
also of the hope that Pope Francis has given so many people by the way he
lives.
In this
beautiful Gospel we hear how Jesus deliberately waited when he heard
that Lazarus was sick, in order to work this miracle before
everyone’s eyes. He wanted to show them something. He wanted to
show them that God has power even over death and that if He allows
people to die that it is not the end. Just as Jesus called Lazarus
out of death, so Jesus will also call us out of death when we die, except on the other side and
we will begin a new and wonderful life with him, if we have chosen
life with God. We make that choice by the way we live, the everyday
decisions that we make.
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| Medical personnel trying to cope with the Corona Virus |
In bringing
Lazarus back to life, Jesus was helping people to believe in who he
was. He is the one who has power over life and death. He is master of
all things. He is the one who will judge the living and the dead. He was also giving the people hope, showing them that
there is a bigger picture that we do not understand. Death is not the
end. Physical health is not everything either, but having hope is
essential if we are to keep going through the many difficulties that
we continue to face. Our hope in God and the world to come, gives us
strength to keep going even when we are suffering, or struggling, or
when everything is going wrong. If we do not have hope we may
despair. If we believe in nothing else apart from this world, then it
could be very difficult to keep going when faced with the many
difficulties that we are so often faced with, which don’t seem to
have any solution: situations of injustice that we can do nothing
about; people killed through violence and hatred. If we believe in
nothing else, then how are we supposed to keep going?
In one of his
letters to the Christians in Corinth in modern day Greece, St. Paul
wrote the following: “If our faith in Christ has been for this life
only, then of all people we are the most to be pitied” (1 Cor
15:9). If we think that this life is everything then we have
completely missed the point. But our faith tells us that this life is
only a small part of what is going on and it is so important that we
don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. That was why Jesus deliberately waited until Lazarus was dead, so that
he could bring him back to life before everyone; so that everyone
would realize that Jesus is Lord of the living and the dead. All
things are in his hands and we place ourselves in his hands too.
“I shall
put my spirit in you, and you will live and I shall resettle you on
your own soil; and you will know that I the Lord have said and done
this.”
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