(School Mass): Friday, September 24, 2004

"The Hugging Prayer"

This morning, Kevin just read us one of the Bible’s most beautiful poems—and one that really makes you think. It comes from one of the wisdom books called “Ecclesiastes.” Some Bibles call this book by the author’s name, Qoheleth. In fact, a folk singer named Pete Seeger made it into a song called There Is a Season—Turn, Turn, Turn. Other musical groups like The Byrds also recorded it. You may have heard this song; it’s very pretty.

If you paid attention to the words, you heard how this poem celebrates life: it says that there’s a time to be born and a time to die… a time to build and a time to tear down… a time to cry and a time to laugh… a time to keep quiet and a time to speak up… a time to love and a time to hate… a time of war and a time of peace.

We all know that it’s true. These things all happen in life. Sometimes we feel happy; sometimes we feel sad. Sometimes we’re healthy; other times we’re sick. Some people do rotten things and seem to have everything go their way, while even when I try to be really, really good, I might get yelled at or laughed at or fall on my face in some other way.

Why?

Well, part of it is that life is just plain mysterious. We know that God loves us, but we don’t always understand why He lets things happen the way they do. Why did my best friend have to move away? Why did my parents have to get divorced? Why did my cat have to die? Why did my brother have to get sick and ruin our vacation? Why? Why? Why?


Qoheleth says: there is an appointed time for everything. In other words, God has His reasons—very good reasons.

Because He loves us, God’s reason is always to love us more… to bring us closer to Himself. Why did His Son, Jesus, have to suffer so much and die on the cross? We all know it was a way to take our sins away and help us get into heaven… even though our poor Lord had a very miserable time.

God knows that we don’t always understand why things in life happen the way they do, but He asks us something very important. He asks us to have faith. He asks us to trust Him and believe that in the end, we’ll see that everything will be OK. There is an appointed time for everything under heaven—most especially, a time for tons and tons of blessings!

Well, if we happen to be going through one of the bad or sad times of life, what are we supposed to do? Lots of things. We can dust off our Bible and reread the sections like the one we heard today—or listen to the song with the same words! Praying is always a great comfort.

Another way to get through the down times is by reaching out to other people. Look around. There’s always someone else who’s having a worse time than you are, and you can help them—by visiting with them, sharing a smile and a kind word, doing someone a favor, inviting them to play with you, sharing your dessert, or in so many other ways.

And if nothing else works, you might try the good ol’ “hugging prayer.” Did you ever hear of that?

A friend of mine told me a story that when she was a little girl—maybe 6 years old or so—she was sitting outside crying. She didn’t even know why she was crying. She just felt sad about things and was crying. Her Mom came out and couldn’t really help her to stop. Finally, her mother said she was going to teach her a special prayer for the times when she was crying and didn’t know why. She made my friend stand up. She said, “Now put your arms around yourself.”

My friend did that, but it wasn’t good enough for her. Her mother said, “You’re just folding your arms. Put them all the way around yourself. Cuddle your body. Hold yourself the way you would hold a baby in your arms.”

Then her mother went on, “Now, after you have a real good hold of yourself, close your eyes and begin to rock yourself. Rock yourself real good, the way you would a baby, and just keep doing it. When you grow up, no matter how old you are, and you find yourself crying and you don’t know why, I want you to rock yourself just like this. And as you do it, remember that you are God’s little girl, and that God understands why you are crying even if no one else does. And remember, too, that God holds you close just the way you are holding yourself, because God loves you very much. Then just keep rocking yourself and be comforted.”

Isn’t that a good prayer? And of course, boys can use it, too—and it works for kids in any grade: even high school or college… even adults, too! I recommend it for you, too. Just stand wherever you are—in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in your bedroom, outdoors—and wrap your arms around yourself as tightly as you can. Rock yourself. Before long, you will be able to feel God holding you and comforting you. You will find peace for anything and everything that happens under heaven, whether it makes sense at the time or not. And without you even realizing it, God will be helping you to grow in Christ and become a saint.