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| Edith Cavell's Lamp |
“Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
Edith Cavell was executed by the German army 100 years ago
tomorrow (12th October). She
was shot at 7.00am by firing squad at Tir national shooting range in
Schaerbeek, Belgium. Her crime was
harbouring Allied soldiers and helping them escape. Belgium was under German occupation during
WW1 and any Allied soldiers in need of care hid in the woods. Any found were either shipped off to prison
camps or shot. So those who came to
Edith’s hospital for treatment needed medical care, hiding and also help to
escape. That brought her into contact
with the resistance and clandestine activity.
Her hospital regularly searched, she was betrayed by an entrapment
sting.
The night before she was executed she wrote final letters
and was visited by the priest from the Anglican church where she worshipped. As she spoke with him she uttered those
famous words, recorded on her memorial, except there was a bit more to
them. What she actually said was:
“I have no fear nor shrinking; I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me… But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
Those words often missed out about ‘standing in view of God
and eternity’ matter enormously, because it was her faith that inspired her in
her work and it was her faith that provided tremendous comfort and perspective
as she faced her own death having seen so many others die.
She had been reading Thomas a Kempis’ ‘The Imitation of
Christ’, that great 15th century spiritual classic. It has in it passages that speak of
improvement. One passage in the chapter
entitled ‘On considering one’s death’ says poignantly
“What is the use of a long life when we show so little improvement?… Always be ready; live in such a way that death can never find you unprepared.”
He gives practical advice on dealing with the failings of
others and being patient, as we ourselves expect others to be patient with us: for
as we pray ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us’!
She showed great compassion, treating the wounded of
whatever side. Her hospital flew the Red
Cross’ flag and she told her nurses: “Any wounded soldier must be treated,
friend or foe. Each man is a son,
husband or father.” For each was equal
at the point of need. Her compassion,
her rejection of hatred and bitterness sprung from her profound faith.
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| Laurel Court, Peterborough Cathedral Cloister |
The gospel reading this morning had a man anxious to live a
life improved and validating of his faith (Mark 10:17-31). Keeping rules and ticking the right boxes,
showing that measurables have been achieved and met – don’t lie, steal, murder…;
outward discipline is not on its own the point.
The one thing this man lacked was a heart that stood in view of God and
eternity and was ready. Possessions
distract us and distract us from emptiness within. Keeping rules can do the same. Yes we devise rules to help us learn and to
give us boundaries that help us be virtuous, or at least limit the damage we
might otherwise do, but they are not a substitute for a heart that is content
and at peace. If the rules are just and
true, and that is itself a massive question, then a heart that is filled with
that justice and truth will instinctively behave in a way that is life-givng
and therefore blesses. So the injunction
to go and sell all you have exposes straight away that the man was not living
in a state of readiness for death; that was not standing in view of God and
eternity.
Possessions, then as now, were seen as a sign of blessing,
as validating a life. The established
view was that God showed his favour in bestowing riches and good things. Bad things came because of God’s
displeasure. Thus we get passages that
ask who sinned, the blind man or his parents.
Jesus moves beyond such shallow and transitory badges; indeed he turns
them upside down. Cash is to be given
away. The very signs of blessing shunned
and rejected. Poverty is held up over
riches.
How hard these lessons are to learn, now as then. We have inherited such great wealth from the
past: buildings which glorify; craftsmen’s art and music’s measure sublimely
combined. As we pray, far from being
stripped back to be prepared for our death, or standing in view of God and
eternity, we can be very firmly locked in the temporal. The grandeur of this place must come with
this spiritual health warning. That
which should point beyond, from temporal to eternal, to be ready to let go of
everything, even life itself, can actually serve the complete opposite. Those of us who live and work here daily have
to be careful we don’t take all of these surroundings too seriously less they
corrupt the soul, distort our vision and distract us from the view of God and
eternity. It is hard for the rich to
enter the Kingdom of God. Those whose
sofas are well cushioned, and nests soft, have a harder task in reaching beyond
those distractions.
The reality check here is provided by the firm hope in the
Kingdom of God. It grows within us if we
let it and it comes to a heart that stands utterly dependent on God. Whenever I go on retreat, I like to kneel in
a simple chapel, in simple clothes (I don’t have an elaborate wardrobe),
without status, except that of a child of God, focused on the stillness that
comes from being touched by the silence of eternity and at one with the one who
is the source and goal of our existence.
I fully understand St Cuthbert praying in the waves of the sea, and the
holy sites on wind swept hillsides or cliff edges. There is a challenge to find
that in more urban areas, but it is possible, away from the padding and all
that would make us think we are no more than material things. There is no other hope, certainly not in
money, elaborate surroundings or trappings.
The question is often not can your faith survive outside of this great place,
but can it survive in it! If it
struggles outside, it will certainly struggle inside where the distractions are
so great.
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| Memorial, Peterborough Cathedral |
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