In the end as at the beginning all that really matters is how we treat one another.
This song of knowing is in our hearts and of our hearts.
It whispers of better times. A daily life that can be calmer.
Kinder, not something to worry about.
Where the healing of memories is subtle but sustained.
So vividly, this is all within reach.
A boy plays with a new friend under a tree.
Two dogs meet near the shops and both owners smile.People are at a table having coffee.
Their faces look so serious.
Then laughter bursts forth and their faces delight.
In the end as at the beginning all that really matters is how we treat one another.
The song in our hearts is of the ordinary as it is noticed and appreciated.
A man sits with me full of love’s grief. His wife has just died.
I listen as children and grandchildren nearby try to learn tennis.
There is autumn sunshine and a rose garden.
I remember Nikos Kazantzakis writing his biography at home on the island of Crete.
He knew his time was running out.
A full life was nearing its completion.
Writing all morning he would go down to the town for lunch.
Like here in the rose garden by the tennis courts, young people in Crete were laughing leisurely…languishing.
‘If only I could have half an hour from each of them’, Nikos wrote.
My friend’s wife died suddenly. This is just so sad.. They had such lovely plans.
A better time seemed ahead. Within reach at last and after so much stress.
But there was no time for them to even think this precious thought.
Not like Nikos could do, back on Crete.
Nikos composed what he wanted as an epitaph on his grave.
‘I have no fear. I am free!’ That is what he had them write.
My friend wept love’s grief as we watched the young ones at play. He has confronted many fears but this is different.
The kids keep playing in this place of tranquil beauty. ‘Do you think watching Bluey should be part of the Australian curriculum? Hands up if you do’, yells an older kid.
Loud responses. Lots of laughter.
“It is what it is”, folk say nowadays.
Yes it is. And each moment is so precious.
If seen, as always.
My friend sees this vividly through his tears.
Day by day he visits her fresh grave and pray-talks to her lovingly.
The song he sings to her is the real song of our hearts.
The love song of the Creator who gifts us with life and asks only that we be loving together.
In the end as at the beginning all that really matters is how we treat one another.
Taking away another person’s time in this life is so cruel and so criminal.
My friend knows his beloved may have lived longer.
Seen their children fall in love; flourish vocationally; raise their own families.
But for that regime of brutality.
Brutality for which there is no excuse under heaven.
Once their homeland. We speak of this and of the many whose hearts also fill with love’s grief because of such circumstances in other places.
There are many regimes of brutality, domestic and national.
Over the seas, we know, people are suffering under the worst possible leaderships at the worst possible time.
I have an Anzac Day badge on my jumper and a youngster on a break from playing tennis asks me for it.
Aged maybe 7, he seems to already know what it means.
Moses went up Mt. Sinai and heard the Creator of all that is, of roses and of stars beyond Saturn, say clearly: “Do not kill.”
The incarnate One elaborated: “Love your enemies..forgive as you are forgiven.”
What could be clearer? This is the way to live this gift called life on earth..
Can we yet cultivate a way to stop the killing? Can we have even one day when no leader commands that a bomb will fall on someone they have never met?
My friend has a heart of divine compassion.
He will make a noble response when he can.
With what life- time remains, this side of eternity.
I see him searching for how meaning might come from love’s grief.
We know, as soul-friends, it will be the song in our hearts and of our hearts about giving peace a better chance.
That’s what he and I say to one another as we part.
In the end as at the beginning all that really matters is how we treat one another.
Philip Huggins
Bishop Philip Huggins Director, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, August 25 2022