The Veil

October 27, 2020

The veil between this life and the next is gossamer thin. As Linda and Judy were helping mom turn over this afternoon, mom went limp, and that was that. Her prayers were finally answered, and she is with Jesus. Life and death are strange things, and though the process be long, the transition from one to the other takes but the blink of an eye; one moment breath and blood mingle to give life, and the next, the body is still, the spirit having departed. It was a holy moment, bathed in prayer, surrounded with love.

I am not unfamiliar with death, but its mystery still whispers in the hidden places of my heart. This morning as I sat beside mom’s bed holding her hand, I read Scripture to her, prayed for her, and recited the Apostle’s Creed, which begins with a single word in the Latin: “Credo”—“I believe.” This ancient declaration of faith doesn’t begin with “I feel,” or “I know,” but “I believe.” There are some things more certain than feelings, deeper than mere knowledge, things that can be discovered only in the realm of faith. Though belief in the Trinity is logical, it cannot be proven by logic. Though faith has an emotional component, it is not verified by such means. Ultimately, in those times when feelings fail, when experience grinds us to the earth, when we get there, we bend the knee and declare, “I believe.” For that faith—faith in God the Father Almighty, in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit, which faith assures me of the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting, I give thanks tonight.