Saving A Life

I have a friend whose daughter, last year, was near death from a drug overdose --- for the third time.  On his part, he has tried helping her with lectures, then encouragement, with support for treatment programs, then love.  Now he simply prays for her, with a heavy heart, while waiting for that next, perhaps final, phone call.

Saving a life is no easy thing.  Watching a loved one choosing to die because they find no more reason to live, is a harder thing.  But, sometimes life IS hard.

In today’s reading at mass, God called Samuel three times, and he didn’t get what was happening.  Finally, Eli said next time you hear a voice disrupting your own thoughts or plans, say: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”  And Samuel did as Eli suggested, and his life changed.  It changed because, listening to God’s voice in his heart, Samuel began doing more for others.

My friend never asked me what I would say to his daughter, were I in his shoes.  I think I’d like to believe God would give me the right words to say; I know I’d ask Him.  But at this moment, what comes into my heart are the words of Donne:  No man is an island, a body unto himself.  I think, were the opportunity to arise, that I would tell someone who perceives no reason to live that there IS a reason to live, and an important one.  There is someone, some one person, who needs him or her, and they’re waiting, thinking they are alone, finding no value in their life.

No man is an island; we were put here among people, a unique being like no one else --- for a reason.  What reason?  Well, that’s Samuel’s witness: until he tried to listen for that reason, he didn’t know it, and he was confused.  He thought life was living in a comfortable cocoon that he created for himself with a blanket, or in modern times perhaps with some drugs.  He didn’t feel he needed anyone else, but with no one else to focus on, he really had no reason for living.

God commanded us to love God and love neighbor.  Why?  Because God yearns for our love; He needs it so much that He chose to die for it --- not for Himself because He saw no reason for living, but for us.  For us, He loved to the ultimate.  He came into the world to be who He was created to be, to love us to death --- even though we were sinners and didn’t look like someone particularly attractive or worthwhile.

We need to discover our uniqueness in this world, and to be who we were created to be, for someone else who needs us, who needs our love in some unique way, a love no one else can fulfil, because this person is, or will be put into, our life at some point, and then we will be there to love them, to save them.

Many of us, who are so focused on “me”, strangely, don’t really know who “me” is.  We define ourselves by our wants, and how we can satisfy them.  We forget, or never knew, the Jesus who didn’t seek to satisfy His wants, but rather the needs of those around Him.  He came to love them, as we were created to do also, to save their life.

We think of one lifeguard going out at some point to save one person.  If we relate that to ourselves perhaps we say: “I don’t see any drowning person,” or Everybody’s drowning; there’s nothing I can do.”  And we forget what Jesus did in a world filled with drowning people: He save this one, then He save that one, then that one, then that one.  One by one.

So where is the one we are supposed to save?  Well, it might be that woman who had to leave her husband because of abuse.  It might be that woman caring for her ill son or dying parent, alone.  It might be that man sitting on the bench, bundled against the freezing temperatures.  It might be that kid sitting in the corner, apart from the others.  You don’t see them?  Then you must walk around with your eyes closed.  They are everywhere.  There are many in need of saving, but which one is the one we were meant to save, the one we were created to save?  If my life is important and was created not to just focus on living it, but making a change in this world, how can I find that meaning, that person who needs me, that person God is watching for me to help?

God called Samuel three times, until he finally listened on the fourth.  How many times has He called to you?  When will you finally answer: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”?  There is a life out there which God is trusting you to save, maybe many .  Don’t tell me your life isn’t worth living; it’s critically important.

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As I considered the above thoughts while riding home from church this morning, I heard this song being sung:

One day I’ll hear the laugh of children
In a world where war has been banned
One day I’ll see men of all colors
Sharing words of love and devotion.

Stand up and feel the Holy Spirit
Find the power of your faith
Open your heart to those who need you
In the name of love and devotion
Yes I believe

I believe in the people
Of all nations to join and to care to love
I believe in a world where
Light will guide us, and giving our love
We’ll make heaven on earth

Yes! I believe
I believe in the people
Of all nations to join and to care for love
I believe in a world
And giving our love
We’ll make heaven on earth.
I believe

I Believe, by Universal Music Publishing
sung on Andrea Bocelli’s “My Christmas” CD