Lessons from the Church Fathers and Mothers 1

I have decided to start a new (hopefully) weekly series where I will take a quote from a Church Father or Mother that was particularly meaningful for me during the past week, and will try to tie it in to my experiences over the past week.

For this first week I will start with a quote from St. John of Damascus that is used in the Funeral service:

Vanity are all the works and quests of man, and they have no being after death has come; our wealth is with us no longer. How can our glory go with us? For when death has come all these things are vanished clean away… Where is now our affection for earthly things? Where is now the alluring pomp of transient questing? Where is now our gold, and our silver? Where is now the surging crowd of domestics, and their busy cries? All is dust, all is ashes, all is shadow...I called to mind the Prophet who shouted, "I am but earth and ash." And once again I looked with attention on the tombs, and I saw the bones therein which of flesh were naked; and I said, "Which indeed is he that is king? Or which is soldier? Which is the wealthy, which the needy? Which the righteous, or which the sinner?"

When I read this text, I was struck by the blunt point of our equality, in this case in death.  Despite all that we do in life and all the money and prestige that we may acquire, in the end it means nothing: wealth, prestige, worries, valor...all are without point.

This message is very powerful, not because it shows that all are equal in death (I think most of already know this), but because it means that in life we are all equal.  That means the things we create to distinguish ourselves from our fellow humans -- our titles of honor, societal status, wealth, fame -- are meaningless and unnatural to our true humanity.

Reading this quote has been a great reminder of inequalities in my own life, especially my attachment to my own status and privilege.  As I prepare to leave for orientation and Pohnpei, I am mindful of these inequalities and I must strive to overcome them, especially in adapting in the spirit of service and accompaniment to a new culture and people.