The Final Word

"The spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the spirit Himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings."
--Romans 8:26

Word comes to us today that a family friend who is battling cancer is slowly losing the fight. His condition has moved beyond human treatment. Body systems fail. Pain overwhelms. A family suffers.

I do not know how to pray for such needs. Words seem empty and hollow.

But this longing for peace, for ourselves and others, this longing for the reconciliation and a resolution to all grief and pain, that longing itself, that is the prayer. Yesterday St. Paul proclaimed that all of creation itself is groaning in labor pains for the fulfillment of our deepest needs and longings.

Creation cries out with us. The Spirit itself cries out in response.

We wail for God and God wails back, like a separated mother and child crying out for one another.

A thundering chorus of unformed words, the torrent of all longing and desire, echoes all around us in a mighty, cosmic roar.

We are not alone in this, even when we feel most alone, and this suffering is not the final word.

The final word is one of sheer silence, which we find at the foot of the Cross, where this great call and response reaches its climax and we are finally made One.

Oh my God, words fail. I release all these unspeakable needs to you, listening for your voice crying out to us in response. Enter into our suffering once more, and let us abide in this veil of tears with hope for all that you are about to reveal. Amen.