Last Dance

One of the only guarantees in working with the elderly is that there will be loss. One day they are there and the next they are not. I make a conscious effort every evening before I go to say goodbye to each and every person. There is eye contact, handshakes or hugs or kisses, calling them by name, and always a thank you for letting me be in your life. I do this because I never know who will be there in the morning when I come back. Of course, they love it, because eye contact is like gold, and if eye contact is like gold physical touch is like the jackpot, and if physical touch is like the jackpot hearing their name is like heaven. I give each one of my sweethearts face time to let them know that they are loved and cherished, but also for my own heart to remember that the main thing is to love the person in front of me. I know that I might be their last “I love you”, their last kiss on the cheek, their last “I see you and know your name”, their last song, their last dance, their last laugh, their last sound of their name. I say this not to make myself seem more important, because I am just one of many caring staff members who love this way, but I say this to remind myself and you that life is about presence in the present. Jesus knew that he needed to impart this to his apostles and so we see his active campaigning for the Holy Spirit in recent gospels, “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” The Holy Spirit is our connection to the person of Christ: our eye contact, our physical touch, the sound of our name, and the presence of love. 

The Holy Spirit might be the most abstract concept to wrap our brains around and yet the most transparent notion to feel in our hearts. The Spirit is what moves in us when we choose love, when we connect with one another, when we feel for each other, when we pray, when we create, when we laugh, when we cry, when we know that there is more, when we worship, and when we believe. Even if we don’t identify it as the Holy Spirit, we are constantly breathing in its presence, soaking in its movement, and residing in its gifts. Jesus wants us to know the Holy Spirit within us because he knows that when we recognize that we have a Divine Advocate, we will be able to cooperate with this beautiful gift given to us from Love itself. When I imagine a world that cooperates with Love itself, I imagine a world where every single person knows without a doubt that they are favored and special. When we know we are favored, we behave in such a way that imparts blessing to everyone we meet. A world where abundant blessing is the standard is a world that Jesus wants to impart in today’s gospel. The Holy Spirit is the conviction of our hearts to bring peace, mercy, joy, love, goodness, kindness, patience, and presence. Jesus knew that his apostles were caught up in the grief of losing him in today’s gospel. What am I caught up in that keeps me from seeing the main thing? Pride? Need for approval? Fear of loss? Shame? Grief? The lies of this world? Not enoughness? 

Yesterday, I lost one of my sweethearts. I was sick for over 10 days and when I came back, he had been admitted to hospice, with little time left. One of my last encounters with him was one of those moments that I’ll never forget. He and I had our own language. He was pretty much non-verbal and expressed himself with various hand movements and sound affects. I was able to learn many of these and so he and I would have simple conversations in our non-verbal language. He loved music and often got up and just danced with me as I was playing. One day it was just he and I in the activities room and he seemed a bit down. I picked up the ukulele and started serenading him, this time with a song that I wrote called, “You Are My Favorite.” He closed his eyes and received this love song in such a way that I have never experienced. He started dancing to it with his hand movements communicating love back to me in his very special way that I was privileged to have learned. I sang and he danced and guess what, Holy Spirit fell on us as an Advocate. No words were necessary to transmit the love of that moment. I’ll leave you with the chorus of that song so that you can honor my friend, Chip, as he meets the Beloved. “Because you are my favorite. Arise my darling, come. In you I take delight. You are my beloved one. No longer be afraid, I am with you, for all time. I have called you by name, Chip, I am yours and you are mine.” It is well with my soul.

Reading 1 ACTS 16:22-34

The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas,
and the magistrates had them stripped
and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
After inflicting many blows on them,
they threw them into prison
and instructed the jailer to guard them securely.
When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell
and secured their feet to a stake.

About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened,
there was suddenly such a severe earthquake
that the foundations of the jail shook;
all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. 
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open,
he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,
thinking that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted out in a loud voice,
"Do no harm to yourself; we are all here."
He asked for a light and rushed in and,
trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and said,
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus
and you and your household will be saved."
So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds;
then he and all his family were baptized at once.
He brought them up into his house and provided a meal
and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.

Responsorial PsalmPS 138:1-2AB, 2CDE-3, 7C-8

R. (7c) Your right hand saves me, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple,
and give thanks to your name.
R. Your right hand saves me, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Because of your kindness and your truth,
you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Your right hand saves me, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Your right hand saves me, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia SEE JN 16:7, 13

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will guide you to all truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel JN 16:5-11

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Now I am going to the one who sent me,
and not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'
But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts.
But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go.
For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.
But if I go, I will send him to you.
And when he comes he will convict the world
in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation:
sin, because they do not believe in me; 
righteousness, because I am going to the Father
and you will no longer see me;
condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned."