In thinking
about the king’s question, “Who is the right person to listen to?” we’ve
considered the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and trusted men and women who have
been given wisdom.
The hermit’s
answer was, “The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows
whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else.”
How might we
understand the Hermit’s answer? Certainly, what people tell us is not always
true or righteous or good, so we must not accept everything we listen to, and
yet how might we understand “the most necessary man is he with whom you are”? What
about the thought that “no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with
anyone else”?
There are few
lines in the prayer, Morning Dedication, in the Valley of Vision
(page 221) that may help us with this:
Order this
day all my communications according to thy wisdom, and to the gain of mutual
good. Forbid that I should not be profited or made profitable. May I speak each
word as if my last word, and walk each step as my final one. If my life should
end today, let this be my best day.
Every
interaction with others matters, every encounter with another person is
important. I believe this because I cannot envision Jesus meeting someone,
speaking to someone, hearing someone, and thinking that the person is not
important. Since Jesus sends us as the Father sends Him, I believe we are
to be His Presence in all of our interactions with others, just as Jesus was
the Father’s Presence in the Incarnation.
This means, among
other things, that the hermit has a point when he says, “the most necessary man
is he with whom you are.” We will never meet a person who does not have the
image of God; granted the image can be hidden, defaced, desecrated, and even
intentionally mutilated, but nevertheless, the image of God is there, somewhere,
somehow.
A few months ago
I did a series of reflections on Theo of Golden. One of the beauties of Theo
is that all faces matter, all people matter, whatever their size or shape or
background or the present condition of their lives, they all matter. Theo could
look into the eyes of a portrait and see the soul.
But…we must pay
attention to others if we are to begin to “see” others. Paying attention means
listening and watching, watching the eyes, the face, the body language. I don’t
want to pass anyone and not pay attention to them, I know that I do miss
people, but I don’t want to. We can speak to others as we are able, and we can
always pray for others, yes, we can always pray. I have learned to look for
opportunities to speak to others, to share Jesus with others, to pray with
others, to pray for others. I don’t always get it “right,” I don’t always recognize
the opportunities, I can be so very self-centered at times, so intent on my own
agenda, that I miss others, I miss the faces.
I do really want
to get it right, at least I think I do.
The hermit says,
“no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else.” There is a
date on a calendar which is our last day of this life, this pilgrimage. On this
particular date, whether it is today or tomorrow or many years from now, there
is also an appointment for us to keep, and for sure we will keep it. The
appointment is with the last person we will ever be with, the last person we
will ever speak to, the last person who will ever speak to us.
What will that
appointment look like?
Will we be
attentive listeners? Will we be encouraging to that person? Will we look upon
that man or woman or child as Jesus looks upon him or her? Will that person be
glad that he or she met us and that they were with us?
What a tragedy
to leave this earth in a moment of rudeness, or hatred, or vitriol, or
selfishness! What a tragedy to leave as a taker and not a giver.
What would life
look like if we desired to be a blessing to all who we meet? If we would “speak
each word as if my last word”? If all of our actions were done in the awareness
that they might be the final thing we did in our lives?
What would our
lives look like if we lived each day so that it would be our “best day”?
We are to be a
neighbor to all, to love others, and to remember that “The one who does not
love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1
John 4:20).
We never really
just meet one person, for there is always another Person with the two of us,
always Another. To know Jesus, is to know Him as we love others, serve others,
pray for others, be available for others, listen to others. Jesus comes to us
again and again as we live in the light of the hermit’s answer that, “The most
necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever
have dealings with anyone else.”
Will we live in
the light of this knowledge today?