Mozelle Batiste Delacroix, played beautifully by Debbi Morgan talks to her young niece Eve, played by Jurnee Smollet, about suffering. " Life is filled with goodbyes, Eve, a million goodbyes, and it hurts every time. Sometimes, I feel like I've lost so much, I have to find new things to lose. All I know is, there must be a divine point to it all, and it's just over my head. That when we die, it will all come clear. And then we'll say, "So that was the damn point." And sometimes, I think there's no point at all, and maybe that's the point. All I know is most people's lives are a great disappointment to them and no one leaves this earth without feeling terrible pain. And if there is no divine explanation at the end of it all, well... that's sad."
Obviously I don't agree with some of it. I do agree that life is filled with a million good-byes and it hurts everytime. I do agree that no one leaves this earth without feeling terrible pain. But my theodicy is based on my certain and sure belief in a loving God, God's Son Jesus who wept over the death of Lazarus, and who weeps as we do, when we feel that terrible pain. I believe with certainty in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who holds us up while we suffer the pain here in this very temporary world.
All of this is so easy to type. But it's a whole matter altogether when one is in the midst of terrible pain.
Tonight I went to the visitation of thirty five year old man who lost his life in a kayaking accident in Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis, W.Va.
I didn't know him but I know his mother, a gentle and truly caring, beautiful woman.
Looking around the church where the visitation took place I saw pictures of a young man who loved life and God's creation. He was a kayak instructor for Wilderness Voyagers, and an Italian teacher to grade and middle school children.
How can anyone find the right words to say to this man's family and friends? The truth is, no one can. No one but Jesus the Christ.
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."
Those words can't be matched. No words can come close.
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