Mtr Mary Trainor

The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart:*

Dear friend,

My mother loved poetry, and wrote a lot of her own over the years. On a recent trip to visit family in Milwaukee, my brother and I mused about this.

In particular, I recalled her frequent use of Rudyard Kipling’s line from Recessional: “The Captains and the Kings depart.”

Born with a melancholy heart, my mother used Kipling’s words to describe a particular form of loneliness that visited her when busy-ness was done and she was left with herself and her sorrow. No distractions. No one to take her mind off of reality, of loss. A form of abandonment that she found acutely humbling, this being alone in sorrow while the rest of the world went by.

Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart  …

Luke’s Gospel for this day looks at the spiritual value not only of being humble, but also of seeking the humble path. It seems counterintuitive to seek the lesser place, to offer the last piece of meat to another, to willingly sit alone in a place of despair because others have their own pursuits to follow.

To be honest, I’m not always in the mood for being humble. Maybe you have moments of pushback, too.

But it’s clear to me that Jesus took the humble path, and asks me to do so also, whether I am in the mood for it or not.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Mtr Mary

*Recessional, Rudyard Kipling, 1897