Daily Reflection, March 5, 2025

Reflection

As we begin the season of Lent, we are reminded that this is a time to come back to God to repent, if necessary, for our failure to be ambassadors for Christ. The Gospel teaches that this change must come from the heart and not be simply a show for others to see. So, what might being a true ambassador for Christ look like?

About 30+ years ago, we initiated 2 outreaches from our house in Templestowe, Victoria. One was aimed at people suffering with cancer, and the other, headed by Br. Damian Byrne CP, was an outreach to people suffering from HIV. Damian developed a team of nurses, doctors, massage therapists, counsellors, etc. and started offering retreats and support for people with HIV, for their families and carers. Because of this ministry, Damian got a name for working in this field.

One day, he received a phone call from a nurse at a hospital in Melbourne who told him that there was a young man called Tim who was dying from full-blown AIDS and that he was from a Catholic family and his mother wanted to speak to someone from the Church. She passed the phone to Tim’s mum, who said, “Br. Damian, we were wondering if you could come and talk to Tim, our son. He is gay, and that’s how he contracted this disease. Please understand that he hasn’t had anything to do with the Church for some time. He felt that in the eyes of the Church, he was an outcast, a sinner, and so if the Church had no time for him then he had no time for the Church. But now he is dying, and he is asking us a question that we don’t know how to answer. He is asking is: ‘What is going to happen to me when I die?’ We thought you might come and speak to him about it.” Damian replied, “I’ll be right over.”

When Damian arrived at the hospital room, Tim was lying in bed with his eyes closed. He was emaciated. His skin was covered with lesions, a sign of advanced AIDS; he had thrush down his throat and was making a sound the nurses call ‘the death rattle,’ again a sign that he was dying.

In the room were Tim’s mum and dad and 2 sisters. Tim’s mum took Damian beside the bed and gently shook Tim awake and told him that this was Br. Damian, who had come to answer his question. Damian said to Tim, “Look, Tim, please don’t think that I’m here to bible bash you or anything like that. If there is anything I can do to help, that’s why I’m here.” So, Tim looked at Br. Damian and said, “What’s going to happen to me when I die?”

Damian responded, “Well, Tim, in all honesty, I don’t know. But I can tell you what I believe will happen to me when I die. I believe that when I close my eyes on this world for the last time, that I will open my eyes again on a world of pure light. I will have no more pain or suffering. In that moment, I will understand the meaning of my suffering – why I suffered what I did in this life. In that moment, I will understand the meaning of my life. I will understand all the choices I made with clarity I didn’t have when I made them – everything will be clear for me. And, in the next instant, I believe that I will see Jesus coming towards me with a smile on his face like no smile I’ve ever seen before. He will open out his arms and he will embrace me, and I’ll feel held like I’ve never felt held before, and I’ll never want him to let go, and he never will because I’ve come home. Tim, that is what I believe will happen to me the day I die.”

With that, Tim closed his eyes, and for about 20 minutes, he remained like that, and Damian thought he might have slipped into a coma. Now, because the death of someone is such a sacred time for family, Damian thought that it might be appropriate for him to leave. But as he was getting up from his chair, Tim must have sensed the movement in the room and opened his eyes and looked at Damian and said, “Damian, I’ve been thinking about what you said and, look, it’s a beautiful story and I really hope it’s true. I just wish I’d met that Jesus on this side of life.”

The point is we can meet that Jesus on this side of life, because the Jesus people meet when they meet you is the Jesus they meet on this side of life. And what kind of Jesus will they meet? What kind of Ambassador of Christ will they meet when they meet you?

Fr. Ray Sanchez CP is the leader of the Oxley community and is responsible for Parish Missions and Retreats throughout Australia and NZ.