What was the most interesting time of your long life? That was the question one of my young
Dominican brethren recently asked me. Well, I could look back over 80 years and
recall different periods in my life, which held a whole variety of experiences,
some of them pleasant, others not so enjoyable.
As with most people, the interesting times punctuated long periods of
boring monotony.
I could think back to my childhood and the time when
my brothers and I were evacuated during World War II. That period held experiences which would be
alien to people growing up in peacetime.
Certainly there was the horror of war, the personal sadness of our
family being scattered, with dad in the army, mother and our two youngest
brothers in a 16th century cottage with no electricity or water. Peter,
David and I were in ‘digs’ in the beautiful town of Ludlow. Many were our adventures as we scaled the
castle walls, ventured on the U.S. army assault course and swam in the freezing
river. I still have vivid memories of
our celebrating VE Day on the Whitcliffe, with some inebriated idiot letting off
rockets parallel to the ground. It’s a wonder he didn’t hit somebody.
Then there was our pre-Vatican II Dominican training
–so very different from that of the present generation. There’s the great danger of us oldies boring
the youngsters with repeated anecdotes about the good or bad old days. One of
my contempories has the catch phrase, ‘stop me if I’ve said this before.’
Repeatedly we’ve tried, but always failed, as he lumbers inexorably forward
like a determined rhinoceros!
My brief work in the W. Indies opened up a whole new
world, with people of a culture very different
from mine, and living in an exotic tropical island. I was unbelievably happy
and fulfilled as a country parish priest up in the mountains. This was brought to an abrupt end by serious
illness, which forced me to return to England.
After a lengthy convalescence I worked in Spode
Conference Centre. Immediately after the
Vatican Council that was an exciting place to be! There we heard experts explaining the
Conciliar Documents. There was a ferment, a buzz, a clash of ideas, and many an
animated discussion. Our special
vocation was to experience the Church’s growing pains; our mission was to
explain the Council’s insights and give the reassurance that development was a
sign of a healthy life, not a betrayal of the past or a loss of identity. That was a good time to be alive and
active! Perceptively, someone recently
remarked that for those of us of that generation the Vatican Council was an
experience, but for the modern generation it is history!
And perhaps that’s how they look upon old fogeys like
me –as part of history. But not a bit of
it! Certainly the aged body does creek and protest
with attempted exertion, and loss of memory is made up with creative
recounting. But in our antiquity Peter
and I have found a new lease of life, full of fascinating possibilities. These have been provided by spin-offs from
computer technology. Though separated
by the Atlantic, Skype has enabled us to bounce ideas off each other and work
closer than ever before. Together we’ve
been able to produce a blog with regular postings, to make recordings in our
respective rooms and have them broadcast worldwide through the internet. There’s nothing special about us in all
this. The technology is easy to master
and available to all.
But our interests don’t end there. As we approach the end of our lives here on earth we look forward to eternal happiness with
God. That is beyond our wildest dreams;
the best is yet to come. That’s why St. Paul tells us, “But,
as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him,’ (
I Cor. 2. 9). Instead of living in the
past Paul urges us, “Set your minds on things that are above, not
on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden
with Christ in God. When Christ who is your
life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory,” (Col.3. 2-4).
Incidentally,
agility is said to be one of the qualities of the glorified, risen body. I’m looking forward to that!
That’s
what’s next...PLEASE GOD!
Isidore O.P.
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