"Let the Dead Teach the Living"

President Jimmy Carter’s Funeral

Washington National Cathedral

January 9, 2025

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21:4 (NIV)

The actions we take in life are described in many ancient languages and ideas.  I took Latin in the 10th grade believing it would be important for a career in medicine.  It seemed to be of minimal help until I was faced with a task of understanding the stories of maternal deaths in an Egyptian research study..  The latin phrase “mortui vivos docent”, “Let the dead teach the living” became the justification for that report.

The recent book by Delphine Horvilleur,. Living with Our Dead, describes her encounters with death as a rabbi.   She uses her cultural, language and historical knowledge to unlock the dilemmas of our lives and deaths.  She is deeply aware of our contemporary culture that seems to be “at a loss for words”.  Here is what she said:

“Finding the words and knowing the gestures is at the heart of my work.”

Delphine Horvilleur

This last week, the world was witness to two reports, eulogies, from the grave.  It was a powerful teaching moment with words of resurrection that brought hope and healing in these difficult times.

Thanks for the life and witness of President Jimmy Carter,

Marvin

References:

Kane TT, El-Kady AA, Saleh S, Hage ML, Stanback J, Potter L: Maternal Mortality in Giza, Egypt: Magnitude, Causes, and Prevention.  Studies in Family Planning. 23: 45-57. January/February 1992.

Horvilleur, Delphine. Living with Our Dead: On Loss and Consolation (p. 9). Europa Editions. Kindle Edition.

Hage, M. L. (2023). Pandemic Mourning.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/10/pandemic-mourning.html

Steve Ford reading his father’s eulogy to Jimmy Carter.  Washington National Cathedral 1/9/2025

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFPBdoE7RBQ&t=5s

Walter Mondale's son, Ted Mondale, eulogizes Jimmy Carter, Washington National Cathedral, 1/9/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9z4CfN2wO0

 

Healing Words Revisited

 Gift from members of the “Medico Brigada" 

January, 1996

“Then to love the sick, each and all of them, more than if my own body were at stake.”

Paracelsus (1493–1541)

“To Love is to Act” - “Aimer, c’est agir” 

Victor Hugo, May 19, 1885

It is interesting to look back at what you have written and lived.  Sometimes you miss the significance or you just got it wrong.  Sometimes you need to re-examine the context, sources and meaning of those experiences.

I just finished the book, Changing my Mind by Will Willimon.  He has been a prolific writer and leader, but most importantly for me, a friend.  Part of our friendship centers on the formation and support of “Exploring Medicine” that sent medical, nursing , divinity students and faculty to join with local hosts to Honduras(1994-1998) as a medico brigada.  Willimon’s book challenges young clergy with the reality and the power of the good words and actions they deliver.  

This latest book of former Bishop Willimon, reminded me of another bishop character, Bishop Myriel in Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables”.   This “bishop creation” of Victor Hugo closely parallels the life of Hugo who confronted the reality of suffering and concludes that “Love” is the basis for the lives that we are called to live.  See the wonderful book of Marva Barnett, To Love Is to Act: Les Misérables and Victor Hugo’s Vision for Leading Lives of Conscience.

For me, the ancient admonition “to Love” is central to our healing vocations and exists only because we were first Loved and experienced it within our faith communities.  I had focused on the suffering and did not fully appreciate the centrality of the many “love benedictions” freely given to me during my life.

 

Thanks be to God, for “Good Words”!

Marvin

Benediction:

“And whenever I see people engaged in that work of love, 

I sense the divine presence brushing us 

with a touch so gentle you can miss it, 

and yet know beyond all possibility of doubt 

that this is what we are called on to live for, 

to ease the pain of those who suffer 

and become an agent of hope in the world.”  

Rabbi Jonathon Sacks

 Être aimé est toute Grâce - To be loved is all Grace

References

The Oath of Paracelsus

https://weeksmd.com/2009/08/the-oath-of-paracelsus/

Willimon, B. W. H. (2024). Changing My Mind. Abingdon Press.

Barnett, Marva A.. To Love Is to Act: Les Misérables and Victor Hugo’s Vision for Leading Lives of Conscience (p. 56). Swan Isle Press. Kindle Edition.

Hage, M. L. (2012). Healing Words.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/09/healing-words.html

Hage, M. L. (2013). Suffering.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/02/suffering.html

Hage, M. L. (2013). The Nature of Healing

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-nature-of-healing.html

Sacks, Jonathan. The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning (p. 206). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Hage, M. L. (2021). All is Grace.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2021/01/all-is-grace.html

Healing Peace Revisited

American Cemetery

Colville-Sur-Mer, Normandy, France

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.

Matthew 5:9(NIV)

Most of the time we pray for peace in the middle of wars, large and small.  In battlefields we erect museums and memorials and call for peace.  Usually there is no clear articulation of the prerequisites for Healing Peace. Here are two books that are exceptions: 

In his recent book, “Cherished Belonging” by Greg Boyle, we are introduced to a Christian answer that happens within a very violent environment.  He describes how tribalism can be replaced with a deeper connectedness between former enemies.  What is remarkable is how these responses have cross-cultural parallels in the words, “mitzvah”, “jeong” and “ubuntu”.  These are good words that describe the different dimensions of our connectedness and the prerequisites for Healing Peace. 

The other exception is Eleni Stecopoulos’s book, “Dreaming in the Fault Zone: a Poetics of Healing”.  She describes the interconnectedness of ancient and modern healing traditions with the art of words used to describe the healing.   It is a powerful critique of our recent experience with the Covid 19 pandemic, our post pandemic state as well as her search for healing.  We need to find those words that connect and tell the stories of healing and loss. 

In this season of advent we welcome Healing Peace when we connect again our current stories with the heritage of those larger stories and ideas. 

Shalom,

Marvin 

References 

Boyle, G. (2024). Cherished Belonging. Simon and Schuster.

Stecopoulos, E. (2024). Dreaming in the Fault Zone: a Poetics of Healing. 

Hage, M. L. (2012). Healing Peace.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/06/healing-peace.html 

Hage, M. L. (2012). Thoughts. 

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/10/thoughts.html 

Hage, M. L. (2015). Going Far Together. 

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2015/03/going-far-together.html 

Hage, M. L. (2020). Finding Joy. 

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/01/finding-joy.html

 

Hage, M. L. (2023). Pandemic Mourning. 

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/10/pandemic-mourning.html 

Hope Adventure

“Hope” by Robert Indiana, 2008

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

It was late in the evening some sixteen hours after leaving Raleigh when we arrived at La Esperanza, Honduras (1994). It was a small hotel that was dark.  We really didn’t know where we were, but wherever, it was very different than any place we had ever been before.  We did know that we were tired, so sleep came easier than you might expect being in such a strange place.  The paradox of La Esperanza is that it is the city of Hope.  We would see hope in some desperate places not far away.   This was the beginning of a new medical educational elective at Duke University Medical School, “Exploring Medicine”.

My life as an obstetrician has been intimately associated with waiting!  It is a task that can be understood as passive(noun) and active(verb).  I have come to most appreciate “hope” when it is active.   I think hope is best understood as “active waiting”.  It can be an individual response but is best done with others.  It is best experienced with the other action verbs of “love” and “faith”.  These are not possessions but are actions.

So as we begin this advent season of “active waiting”.  May we find hope in the actions of others.  May we find hope in the celebrations that we have taken for granted.  May we see hope in the faithful responses to a world filled with uncertainty!

Living in Hope is a promise this advent season.  It is what we saw and experienced in La Esperanza.  It can be born this advent season where ever you are in living into the promises of Hope.

Marvin

References

Hage, M. L. (2010). Healing Agents: Christian Perspectives Second Edition (2 ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Hage, M. L. (2012). Awaiting “Good News”.

http://healingagents.blogspot.co.ke/2012/12/awaiting-good-news.html

Healing Wisdom

“A New/Old Path”

Personal Photo, Pinehurst, North Carolina

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.  

James 3:17-18 (MSG)

It was an unlikely coincidence that the release of Francis Collin’s new book, The Road to Wisdom was released the week when the lectionary for Sunday, September 22, 2024 would include the pursuit of wisdom.(James 3:13-18).  What is more remarkable is that book makes a specific call for “healing”.  It didn’t take me long to purchase this book.

As a world renowned scientist, Francis Collins carefully examines the impact of the Covid pandemic on American and global health.  He provides personal reports with the data.  He believes deeply that this is more than science and describes in detail his faith filled responses.  He ends this book with a “Pledge” and a beautiful benediction.

The healing wisdom he describes is difficult and requires humility to start on a road of healing.  He connects his faith request with examples of institutions and individuals who apply this holy wisdom to earthly issues of isolation, loneliness and cynicism.  It is a prescription for healing the deep wounds of the Covid 19 pandemic.  The “broken road” is being repaired by the works of many people of faith.

Thanks be to God for Healing Wisdom and the faith of Francis Collins.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”  James 1:5

References

Collins, F. S. (2024). The Road to Wisdom. Little, Brown.

Braver Angels  Road to Wisdom Pledge

https://braverangels.org/road-to-wisdom-pledge/

Selected Posts on the Covid Pandemic

Hage, M. L. (2020). M & M - “Who’s Presenting?”.

https://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/03/m-m-whos-presenting.html?

Hage, M. L. (2020). Healing Faith.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2020/06/healing-faith.html

Hage, M. L. (2021). All is Grace.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2021/01/all-is-grace.html

Hage, M. L. (2023). Pandemic Mourning.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2023/10/pandemic-mourning.html

Hage, M. L. (2024). Healing Disconnections.

http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2024/05/healing-disconnections.html