June 21st, 2022: Communion with God While Going Through pain

“Deepest communion with God is beyond words, on the other side of silence.” Madeleine L’Engle

 

We can never fathom the pain of a mother who lost her infant child.

Many years ago, I was with a couple in the birthing room by invite.

The baby was dying in his mother.

They had to make a hard decision to have the baby prematurely delivered.

He lasted for about fifteen minutes after his extraction.

I baptized him and knew we wouldn't have a chance to say 'congratulations'.

As mom held her dead newborn, father and I just sat together.

Mom caressed the baby's tiny little fingers. She would not want to hand him over.

I felt as if someone squeezed my heart. It was the kind of my pain that reaches the core of one's being.

The father, a lawyer, could not find words to express his overwhelmed feeling.

Holding their hands was all that I knew.

Mysteriously God granted me the needed peace to be their emotional refuse.

A nurse came into the room and waited.

Mom gave her son the last kiss and knew it was late.

Silence brought tranquility to our hearts.

We sat together for another three hours before I departed.

Being there for one another is the foundation of loving the way God loves.

Sometimes there is nothing we can do or show.

Psalm 46: 1-3

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling."