Tolstoy’s Three Questions – Reflections (6)

 

 

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?