On Dec. 11, 1959, an episode from the first season of ‘The Twilight Zone’ aired on the relatively new CBS TV network: “And When The Sky Opened Up”. After 31 hours of flight into outer-space, and having disappeared from radar at NASA, three astronauts return to earth, crash-landing in the Mojave desert. After recovering in hospital, two of them leave their third companion behind, to re-enter the world by grabbing a drink at a local bar. ‘A beer was 30c then!’ But something goes wrong.
Harrington suddenly becomes extremely ill-at-ease, feeling overcome by a strange sense of displacement. Calling home, his parents don’t know him; they’ve never had a child. He tells Forbes, “It’s as if I don’t belong here anymore.” Forbes turns for help from the patrons, but then finds Harrington gone. A newspaper shows only two astronauts surviving the crash, not three as reported. Forbes soon enters a world of unreality as his wife and even Gart, the third astronaut, attest they have never heard of Harrington. It is like he never existed. Forbes realizes that, “Someone, or something, made a mistake. Someone let us get through, when we shouldn’t have, and now they’re coming for us.” Fearful, he dashes down a hallway, only to disappear. Gart then sees the newspaper headline now identifies only ‘one’ astronaut survived. Soon, his life, too, will also be erased. The Twilight Zone, a very popular, landmark TV series for its time, was essentially a response to the sense of paranoia which much of the world was feeling as it entered the Cold War, after WWII and the release of the atomic bomb. The question was, ‘What will our future look like?’ For many the answer then was: oblivion. And at this difficult time, we might be feeling the same kind of angst about our future. Rod Serling, the man behind the Twilight Zone, further explains that, “the [astronauts] used to exist, but don’t any longer. Someone or something took them somewhere. All we know is that they are no longer a part of the memory of man.” Yet, is this as strange as it sounds? We might remember our grandparents, even our great grandparents, but do we remember our great-great-great-great grandparents? Great figures are remembered in history: great leaders, writers, thinkers, scientists like Edward Jenner (who invented vaccines), humanists like St Francis of Assisi, and St Teresa of Calcutta. We know their achievements, but do we know them? Our key instructor at Western’s Faculty of Music said it was well worth imitating the great performers we idolize, but we may not care for them, if ever we met them in person. Still, we should remember the good work they leave behind. Like the 3 astronauts, we, too, will be forgotten, but we hope that our work is remembered, because it was God’s work. Fame means nothing. Psalm 103 tells us, “As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like flowers of the field; [but] the wind passes over [them], and [they are soon] gone, and [those in their] place know [them] no more.” The clue is in what we have done to satisfy God’s will and work for us in this life, for it impacts what we build in heaven after we are gone and forgotten. What chapters are we writing in the ‘Book of Life’? Where will God put his bookmark in the pages of our personal screen plays? Joan Levy Earle, an author and artist in Cornwall, ON, once Assoc Editor of the Canadian Messenger of the Sacred Heart, has lost two husbands and a 43 year old son. In an article for Jesuit blog, “igNation”, she shared thoughts about attending her first ‘healing’ mass. It was there she recalled the gifts of the Holy Spirit received in Confirmation so many years before. Calling the Holy Spirit to enter, restore, and heal her, she was ‘slain in the spirit’, a term the Apostle Paul would understand. “When I returned to my church pew, I knew I was different. There were many gifts given that evening. For me, being introduced to the real person of Spirit, and the new joy of loving the Lord with all my heart and soul, continues to provide the comfort and security I need to embrace God’s will [and work] for my life.” As Evelyn Underhill tells us, first, invest in building that internal communication with God through meditative prayer, inviting the Holy Spirit into your inner being. Then, with the gifts and charisms you have been given, go forth, as the angels told the apostles after Christ’s ascension, and do God’s work. For it is doing God’s work with these mystical, powerful gifts of the Holy Spirit, that we will write the chapters of our lives in the Book of Life. Rev 3.4-6: “You have still persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, for they are worthy. I will not blot your name out of the Book of Life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Our existence will fade away in time and space, but in heaven, we may live either an eternity of joy or sorrow; we will not know until we see God face to face. But meanwhile, remember, before the sky opens up to us as it did for the astronauts, the Holy Spirit is with us, here and now, always available at our request to guide, protect, nourish, and enable us to do the will and work of God. And in each other’s eyes, we are already seeing our Saviour, Jesus, face to face. It’s perhaps significant to note that the characters in this Twilight Zone episode were to experience fear and terror at being called back from wherever they came. But behind the scenes, the director and the actors themselves actually determined that it was more a feeling of ‘euphoria’ which they were experiencing in their parts; to be called back to whomever or whatever it was, to wherever they were to return, was an utter joy, something like being called home to heaven. Let us do the work and will of God, now, with the help of the Holy Spirit, so that our call to return home is also one of “euphoria”, of complete and utter joy, to rest in the Lord our God. Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Pastor Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Parish Saugeen Shores, Ontario
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Father's Blog
Rev. Fr. Christopher Tracey
|