CONSOLATIONReading: John 19: 16-27
Jesus, during the three short years of his public ministry, with his passionate commitment, never stopped healing, forgiving, comforting, listening – and challenging. In his humanity he had the same heart’s desire for consolation, to know that he mattered to another human being, especially in the times of sadness, grief, temptation and loss. How much he ached to be understood, that people would look and see, would hear and understand the good news he embodied. He needed love and human companionship, perhaps especially on that final journey to Jerusalem when he knew what lay ahead for him. If we don’t grasp that – the humanity of Jesus as well as his divinity – then we have missed the whole point. He didn’t allow his own deep need to be consoled, to be understood, to be loved to take precedence over the needs of others. That is powerfully illustrated for us in our reading. In the midst of all his dying agony, he still reached out to console his mother and his dear friend. He was, and is, supremely the instrument of peace.
As we sow the seeds mentioned in the first part of the prayer of St. Francis, we are in the process of being ‘made’ by Jesus into an instrument of his peace. The next stage of the journey is this, and if we have sowed faithfully and with integrity, then this activity will follow almost naturally – or should I say supernaturally. Through sowing love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy, not once, but again and again and again, we will one day recognize that there is a transforming power at work within us. Self has been mastered to the extent that we can respond to the needs of others even when we ourselves are going through a tough time, a dark valley, an anguish of soul. This does not mean that we become a doormat ready to soak up the dirt of everybody’s demands or wants. What it does mean is that even in the midst of our own need, we can be present for others in theirs. We can even, when occasion demands it, put self right off the agenda. Yes there are times when we do need to seek consolation for ourselves. As we walk with Jesus we will come to discern when those times are and when they are simply a desire to have our own wants gratified before we reach out to others.
To console means to bring comfort in a time of sadness or distress. There are as many ways of bringing comfort as there are people. It may involve listening, or simply being present without words. It could mean practical help, even a continuously repeated action over a period of time. It certainly will involve commitment otherwise it will not be trusted and the sadness or distress of the other will be worsened rather than relieved. It can also mean giving courage to another to keep on going in a difficult situation. In the Early Church there was a lovely character whose name was Joseph. The apostles nicknamed him Barnabas which means (in the old translations) the ‘son of consolation.’ In the newer versions it is translated the ‘son of encouragement.’ He allowed himself to be ‘made’ by God. One of the ways he sought to console, to encourage was to sell a field he owned and bring the money to the apostles for those who were in need. There’s a lot more written about him in the Acts of the Apostles. If you want to discover the prayer of St. Francis lived out to the full, read about Barnabas, instrument of God’s peace, son of consolation. Is it possible that we can pray, “O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console?”