While driving to do chores today, I heard this portion of a sermon over a local religious radio station. I thought I would write it down as soon as I got home while it was still fresh in my mind. The pastor had a pleasant, inviting style to his delivery and I was interested in what he had to say. This is probably not word for word but I think it is faithful to his message.
START
Have you ever been truly in love? Love is a wonderful experience and I am reminded of a story once told to me by a parishioner which I would like to share with you.
“I was out walking one day and came across a wallet lying on the ground. I picked it up and examined it. It was unusual in that it had a red border. I thought if I could identify the owner I might be able to return it and opened it up to see what I could find.
There was only three dollar bills and a letter which appeared to be quite old. The address was smudged so I couldn’t read it but I could make out the postmark which was dated 1930. It was 60 years old. Well, I thought, maybe it would be all right to read it since there didn’t appear to be any other way to find the owner.
I took it out of the envelope and opened it. It was on blue stationery, and in the upper left hand corner was a small flower. It was a ‘Dear John’ letter. It was actually to someone named Michael and the signature was somebody named Hannah.
It was a nice letter. In it Hannah told Michael that her mother had forbade her from seeing him and that they could have no further contact. She told him that she loved him and would always love him.
I could not find any last name for either Michael or Hannah and was about to give it up as a lost cause, when I noticed that I could make out the return address.
I contacted a telephone operator and asked her if there was a number for that address that I could call. I told her the circumstances and why I wished to talk to them. She replied that she could not give out that information but that she could call them and see if they wished to talk to me and I said that was fine.
After a pause she came back on the line and said they would accept the call and then she connected me.
I asked whether a Hannah lived there and the lady who took the call said no but remembered that the people who last lived there, the people they had bought the house from, did have an older daughter named Hannah. She believed the father had died and the mother moved to a nursing home. I asked if she knew which nursing home and was relieved when she was able to give me the name of the nursing home and her last name.
I immediately called the home and asked if they had such a person in residence. I was told that she used to be there but had died years ago. When I explained that I really wanted to contact her daughter, Hannah, the receptionist replied that she remembered both of them quite well and, as matter fact, Hannah was currently a resident!
Could I come over right now, I asked, and explained a little why I wished to see her. It was a little late in the evening, but I was told it would be OK to come and see her.
I arrived and took the elevator to the third floor which was the floor her room was on. I introduced myself and showed her the letter. She recognized it at once. She was 16 years old when she sent it and had never seen or heard of Michael since. At that time her mother had thought she was too young for marriage. She had never stopped loving Michael and had never married.
After our visit and I was leaving the building, an attendant at the door noticed the wallet I was carrying and asked where I got it. I explained where I had found it and he replied that it was Michael’s wallet, he would recognize it anywhere. Michael was always losing it and he would always have to return it. How do you know Michael I asked and he replied, why, he lives here as a resident. He’s on the 7th floor.
It was almost 10 o’clock but I couldn’t wait, could I drop in on him? The attendant said Michael kept pretty late hours and probably would not mind. So I got back on the elevator and went up to Michaels’s room.
He welcomed me and thanked me for the return of the wallet. I confessed to reading the letter and why I did it. You know, he replied, I remained single and never found another Hannah. I guess she was the love of my life and I will always love her. I asked if he was interested in finding her and he asked if I knew where she was. Come with me I said and took him down to Hannah’s room.
I left them to reacquaint with each other, but I saw them 6 days later when I attended their wedding. He was 78 and she was 76.”
(The pastor resumes, seeing not a dry eye in the house) Now don’t you just know that God intended for this couple to find each other and get married? It was God who intended and God cannot be denied. Who can doubt the depth of God’s love for his creations?
END
The sermon continues in the vein of entreaties for followers to love God in return, although we can never hope to match the magnitude of God’s devotion.
I didn’t make this up. I don’t think I could invent a better example to demonstrate the degree to which the faith mentality has been conditioned to exercise confirmation bias, the capacity to unconsciously filter data so as to accept data supporting one’s beliefs and to suppress or modify that which threatens them.
The pastor and his congregation have no difficulty discerning what is good or gifted in this situation. Isn’t it wonderful this couple has been finally united and providence has guided the events to make it so?
They appear, however, to be almost completely blind to that which has been stolen and denied. Sixty years! A lifetime containing the passion of young love, the sweetness of that love as it matures into something grander. The intimacy and affection that grows and nurtures as shared experiences of joy and sorrow follow the days of their lives.
The awesome responsibility and fulfillment of raising a family and the expansion of loving relationships implicit in that undertaking. The process of growing old together.
All these things of inestimable value have been withheld. Is this an act of perfect love or is it cruelty and hatred? One is tempted to point out that it is not perfect evil since they may have years left to enjoy each other. To be perfectly cruel, wouldn’t God have the patience to wait a few more years and orchestrate a reunion just as one of them were taking their last breath?
No, a little reflection will show that this is the optimum timing for ensuring that the maximum sorrow and misery will result. Without the reunion these people would continue as before, adjusted and resigned to their lives.
Reunited, they will spend the last years of their lives being continually reminded, merely by the presence of the other, of all the treasures they were denied, and can never have.