Monday, May 12, 2008
Reading your mother's obituary it is striking that she passed on her musical self to you, and so she continues through you in your musical endeavors. I am sorry that you have lost your mother, but know that your faith is strong. I know you believe we all meet again.<br><br>Years ago when a friend passed away I wrote the following, which I hope brings you reassurance that all is well for your mother and all of us:<br><br>"There is a God, even if The World appears to be a Godless one, even if The World ridicules those who are believers. God exists even if Science has not found Him. The World is an illusion, no matter how beautiful it may seem. We see only the colors of the rainbow. All else we have discovered with our instruments. Two hundred years ago we didn’t know electricity existed. We still know only what we know--and not much more--no matter how much “information” we may continue to collect. Man does not have enough brain cells to understand what a fruit fly is, or even an atom. Man was not created to understand everything.<br><br>"What we humans don’t know is our Blind Spot. It is infinitely large, and thus beyond our comprehension. And so we should all be most humble, we human creatures in a vast and hostile universe who are entwined amidst and within incomprehensible reality. What God has created is no accident, and He is no myth. To say otherwise is the most fundamental of all ignorance.<br><br>"God is merciful. The Bible recounts story upon story of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. On the cross, Jesus beseeched His Father to forgive those who had crucified him. Jesus taught us how to pray to God: that He “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our trespassers.” If God were not Himself infinitely merciful, then He would not expect us to forgive one another.<br><br>"The World bedazzles you, but understand: life is short, and its attractions are only distractions. He who lives to be 100 lives merely 36,525 days. But God has promised us life without end."<br>
