by Bishop Raymond A. Lucker
Diocese of New Ulm

When I was a child, I was a "mama’s boy". There were six children in our family with a gap between the three oldest (the big kids) and the three youngest (the little kids). I was the youngest of "the big kids" and over four years older than the next child, my sister Mary Jo. Born prematurely, I moved my big brother out of the crib early since only ten months separated us.

The result was I remained a long time as an infant and found it very difficult to be separated from my mother. I can actually remember being held in my mother’s arms as a young child. She frequently held me in her lap in the big rocker we had in our living room. When she went shopping she had to walk a couple of blocks to the streetcar line for the trip to downtown St. Paul. I cried and cried when she left the house for such trips. My mother says that she almost had to sneak away. After she returned I remember her comforting me.

In recent years I have come to a clearer awareness of the unconditional and tender love of God for me and each of us. I believe in God’s infinite love for me and God’s invitation to me to love in return. That is another way of describing faith: the total human response to the living word of God. The response is itself a gift of God. I cry out, "I love you; I depend on you; I believe in you. I believe in all you have revealed and continue to teach through your living church. But Lord, help my lack of trust."

In one of our recent Bishops’ retreats, one of our directors said to us, "In your prayer just let God comfort you." Yes, God’s love for us is something like the love of a mother. One of the two Hebrew words in the Bible for God’s faithful love for us is the same in its very root as the word for womb. It denotes the love of a mother. Pope John Paul II points this out in his encyclical on the mercy (love) of God. As the prophet Isaiah says, "Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness to the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you." (Is 49,15) And again, "As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you." (Is 66,13) All God wants from us is a response. He wants us to be converted, to turn our lives over to him, believe and trust in him in a childlike way. My recent experience with the information I had cancer was at first terrifying. It was also a deep spiritual experience for me, one of the most moving experiences of my life. I felt very close to God and surrounded by the care and love of thousands of people concerned about me, praying for me, supportive in many ways.

One day shortly after the surgery I was sitting in my room and Sister Betty who lives in the Pastoral Center community with me said to me, "What are you doing?" I replied almost spontaneously, "I am just sitting here letting God hold me." It was a beautiful prayer.

Just this morning as I write this, the gospel reading is about the most important commandment. We are to center our lives as Christians on loving God with our whole being and loving one another as Jesus loved us. Simply put, we are beloved of God and are called to love God in return. We are to love one another and let others love us.

During these days praying the Psalms in the Divine Office and reflecting on favorite passages from the Sacred Scriptures have had a special meaning for me. I find myself just taking one or other of these passages and sitting with them in the presence of God. I would like to share some of those passages with you. "Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal life." (John 3, 16)

"Of this I am sure, that your love lasts forever." (Ps 89)

"Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever." (Ps 118)

"God chose the weak so that no one may boast in his presence, for his power is made perfect in weakness." (Cor 12, 9)

"When I am powerless it is then that I am strong." (II Cor 12, 10)

"Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs." (Is 40)

"Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace as a child has rest in its mother’s arms, even so my soul." (Ps 131)

"Our very existence is a gift from you. To you we offer all that we have and are." (Morning prayer, Saturday second week)

"For I am certain that neither death nor life ... nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus Our Lord." (Rom 8, 39)

  I have been given this special gift of God that I am not afraid of death. I believe that death is the beginning of everlasting life and that death is not the end but the beginning of eternal life with God.

I feel good right now. My health is excellent and the doctor says there is no sign of cancer. I am to report to my doctor every three months and hopefully my health will continue to be good for many years.

Right now I am looking forward to the celebration of the Great Jubilee in our diocese which has been in preparation for three years. RENEW 2000 is our vehicle for celebrating the Jubilee. Almost every parish in the diocese is ready to call people to a parish mission. Liturgy committees are working to prepare special liturgies for the RENEW season which begins October 3. People are being invited to join small faith sharing groups. I am hoping that thousands of people will be meeting each week for six weeks in their homes praying together, reading the scriptures, sharing their faith, and looking for ways to bring that faith into our society.

We are on this journey together, held in the arms of a loving God.

September 1999