Something

"Rachel, weeping for her children, will not be comforted for they are not," Matthew 2:18.

How to console a mother who's lost a child? You can't. Days pass. Years pass. Can't be done. A lifetime passes. The now old woman remembers: wasn't it only yesterday they were playing peek-a-boo? No consolation. King Herod slaughtered innocent children in his search-and-destroy mission against the child Jesus. His wake left grieving mothers. When Jesus' parents had brought him to the temple for certain cultural rituals of the law, old man Simeon took the child in his arms, prophesied about Jesus, then told Mary a sword would pierce her own soul. How did it feel when she stood at the foot of the cross? Indeed. Jesus was born into a world without consolation. To bring hope. Hope that God would do something. Hope's about what you don't see. About God bringing the children back, tomorrow.

With a brother or sister today we speak of what we don't experience yet: the consummation of God's promises. So, together, we give thanks to God for what we do not yet see.