Coming to Christ at the 11th Hour!

The Newly Illumined and Departed Servant of God, Mark!

"There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance!" (Luke 15:7)

The past month the husband of one of the members of our mission became the newly illumined servant of God, Mark, in the intensive care unit of Bassett Hospital! As easy as that sentence was to write, the events leading up to this great moment of his entering the Kingdom of God through baptism were nothing short of miraculous!

A week before this night, Mark's wife Brigid received a call from his doctor in the middle of the night to return to the ICU because Mark would probably not even make it through the night. Upon learning that Mark seemed only hours from departing this world, we began to read through the Psalter in his behalf. Many thanks to all of you who participated in this, enabling us to pray through all 20 kathismata of the Psalter! 

Remarkably, however, the next morning Mark not only was still alive, but seemed to be improving, even if only a little. Hild's husband, Dr. Michael Miller, was an immense help to Brigid during this time as he translated for her exactly what Mark's condition was at each moment, and telling her to live only one moment at a time, something Elder Arsenei of Romania would heartily agree with!

On Thursday, Mark was still unconscious, but seemed to be continuing his upward trajectory little by little. That day I rode up the hospital elevator with a man who it turned out was heading to the same place I was: to see Mark in the ICU. He was Mark's son, Mark. That day I anointed Mark with Holy Oil, and from that time on he began to improve to the degree that they were able to close him up from an operation that had commenced a number of days previous to that. Glory to God!

Mark, however, was still unconscious, and the following Tuesday, I received word that his condition had changed for the worse. Brigid and Mark's children were now faced with the anguishing decision of potentially taking Richard off of life support. That still left us, however, in possession of our greatest asset and hope: prayer. That night we prayed a moleben for Richard that God might do a miracle.

The next day, we woke up to the news that that miracle had indeed taken place: Mark was not only conscious, but lucid. That day Brigid and the family met with the doctors to discuss Mark's prognosis and to consider their options. Later that day, Brigid and Mark's son Mark were able to talk with Mark about whether he would like to receive Baptism into the Orthodox Church. Mark heartily affirmed his desire to do so!

Not knowing if we would have another day, but overwhelmingly thankful that we had that day, Mark received Holy Baptism and Chrismation last night in the hospital as the newly illumined servant of God, Mark! Brigid and Matushka Photini participated in the service, along with the very helpful attending nurse Emily, and all of God's rejoicing angels in heaven looking on! Glory to God!

Five days later, as the Church commemorated the Holy and Righteous Symeon, the God-receiver, The newly illumined servant of God, Mark, while still in the ICU, joined him in prayer saying, "Now, O Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word, for my eyes have seen Thy salvation."

Today, as we commend the newly departed servant of God, Mark, to his Lord, we rejoice together with the angels for this one who was called, and who came, even at the 11th hour! May the good Lord now rest his soul in peace and may his memory be eternal!

The Funeral Homily for the Newly Departed Servant of God, Mark!

(The funeral service was held at the Orthodox Chapel of the Seven Holy Youths of Ephesus on Thursday, February 19th.)

Our Father among the saints, John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, says in his famous Paschal homily:

"If any have toiled from the first hour, let them receive their due reward… And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay. For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him who toiled from the first. To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows."

This morning, we are gathered together to honor the memory, and to give thanks to God for the life of the recently departed servant of God, Mark, one who truly came into the kingdom of God at the 11th hour! With his coming, he fulfilled by God's amazing grace the purpose for which we have been put on this earth and that purpose is so that we might prepare for the next life, whenever that life may come upon us. As Elder John of Valaam said, "Mankind has become so earthbound! People have quite forgotten that this life of ours is the path to eternity and a preparation for it."

Interestingly, this morning actually marks the first time that the departed servant of God, Mark, has ever been inside an Orthodox Church! At this time a little over three weeks ago, that condition might not ever have changed as Mark lay unconscious in the ICU at Bassett hospital and was given only a few hours to live. But that is when so many of you and others began to pray for him, first through the readings of the Psalter, and then with the anointing of holy oil, and finally, when it appeared his condition was turning to the worse yet again, through the prayers of a moleben. Astonishingly the next day Mark awoke not only conscious, but communicative and indicated to his wife Brigid and son Mark that he wanted to be baptized!

And the question is why? Why would he want to be baptized by the Church having never even been in the Church? The reason I believe is because he had seen the difference, first in his grandson Moses and then in his wife Brigid, the difference that coming to Church and being baptized had made in their lives - a difference that made him, even at this 11th hour of his life, want to receive that difference for himself too.

I believe parenthetically that there's an important lesson in this for all of us, and that lesson is that sometimes, and perhaps increasingly most of the time, the only Church anybody will ever see in the world today is the Church that is in your life and mine, as we live our lives out there. As the Apostle Paul tells us, "We are His House. " (Hebrews 3:6)

            And so that Wednesday night two weeks ago, as his wife Brigid, Mat. Photini, the nurse Emily and the angels in heaven looked on, Mark was joyfully baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and was born anew into the kingdom of God! Five days later, this past Monday as the Church commemorated the Holy and Righteous Symeon, the God-receiver, The newly illumined servant of God, Mark, joined him in prayer saying, "Now, O Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word, for my eyes have seen Thy salvation."

And so today, as we commend the newly departed servant of God, Mark, to his Lord, we rejoice together with the angels for this one who was called, and who came, even at the 11th hour! May the good Lord now rest his soul in peace and may his memory be eternal!