Hope

On Friday, a Mount Angel seminarian for the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit died in a car accident. The story of his accident can be read here. Br. Robin Bernabe was a quiet man I did not know well. In fact, I had only one interaction with him I can remember, and it took place the Sunday before he died. Br. Robin joined in a pickup basketball game. I guarded him. He played for perhaps five minutes, did not score, thanked us for letting him take part, and hurried off to Filipino choir practice. The moment was simple, unremarkable except that his life would end five days later.

I replay that interaction inwardly as I contemplate how instantly Br. Robin's life ended. Here is a man living the Gospel simply, forsaking the world, nearing ordination as a priest of Jesus Christ, and he is abruptly called out of this life and hopefully to Heaven. For his family and brothers of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, I grieve. For Br. Robin, I mourn and rejoice. Many questions are raised in moments like these: Why did he have to die so needlessly? Why him? Why now? Why this way?

Fragile, fleeting, scarred. Our existence is short in this life before we pass to another. A grain of sand in time. It could be any one of us, through no fault of our own, to have been driving when we encountered unavoidable catastrophe. That it was Br. Robin, a faithful man who knew the saving power and love of our Lord, offers some comfort in the angst and loss.

We know not the hour of our death, but we do know this: God is faithful. Whether in sorrow or joy, God is faithful. The world makes no sense any other way. I cannot explain a death that seemingly has no reason. On a larger scale, I cannot understand why Hurricane Sandy caused immense destruction and took 38 lives last week. I am left with questions; many others are left with pain. But I know a man with answers; I know the Great Physician. In times like this, He is the Rock to which we must cling. "To whom else would we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life."