Fr Peter Helman
Dear friends,
Yesterday I learned that Isabel Piñeros de Guzmán, a parishioner for many years, died last week in Bogota, Columbia, where her son moved her in January to live near family as her health failed. She would have turned 91 this June. I met Isabel—a wonderful soul—shortly after I arrived at Saint Philip’s in 2016. I remember her for her many patient efforts to teach me Spanish vocabulary in the few minutes before the 9:00am mass every Sunday.
Today’s Daily Office reading from Romans strikes me most of all. "We do not live to ourselves,” the Apostle Paul writes, “and we do not die to ourselves." (Romans 14:7-8).
The opening anthem of the burial rite in The Book of Common Prayer includes these words because as Christians we believe in life after death and the hope of eternal life. For Paul, we belong to the Lord both in life and in death. Our lives have meaning and purpose beyond this world. At the last, we are gathered from this life into the very presence of God who is our life. Not even death will separate us from God.
These words from Romans remind me of several other wonderful passages from Paul’s letters, as well as one from the Revelation to John that also appears in the burial rite:
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he writes, "For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain" (Phil. 1:21).
In his second letter to the Corinthians, he writes, "So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord...we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:6,8).
And from the book of Revelation, John sees a vision of heaven, and writes, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them." (Rev. 14:13).
Our lives are centered on Christ, and both in life and death we are made to be with him. Our true home is with the Lord, and we are only temporarily in the body. Those who die find repose and reward in heaven, and our good works in this life will continue to shape the world for good long after our death.
Peace to you,
—Peter
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May Isabel rest in peace and rise in glory.
“Que los ángeles te guíen al paraíso;
que, al llegar, mártires te den la bienvenida,
y te lleven a la ciudad santa de Jerusalén.”
(trans., "Into paradise may the angels lead you. At your coming may
the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.")
-- The Book of Common Prayer, The Burial of the Dead