It's November, the month of All Souls, a season in which Christians pray for the salvation of those who have died. Our thoughts might turn to what are called the Four Last Things: death, judgment, heaven, hell - and perhaps another: purgatory. An item in today's news - Ross Douthat's interview of Donald Trump - includes all five! While this post was written after I had read the the transcript, this prayer is not about Donald Trump - it's about each and all of us. Here's a link to the whole interview and at the bottom of this post, you'll find the portion of the interview relevant to this post.
I guess I can't predict, Lord,
just who or what might prompt me
to reflect on my mortality,
on the finite shelf-life
of this frame I call my body,
on the import and the impact
of my thoughts, words and deeds
on my eternal future,
on the intimate connection
between the person I am
and who I will forever be...
Do I think, do I believe,
do I hope, do I presume
that my next home will be heaven?
Is that something I ponder?
something I pray for?
something I work towards?
or is it something
I take for granted?
(Note to self:
resist taking eternal realities for granted!)
And with what heart, Lord,
do I approach these questions?
Is my heart burdened
by grudges and resentments?
bitterness and animosity?
malice and spite?
bigotry and prejudice?
by loathing and disdain?
Is my heart soiled by any of these, Lord?
even in small ways?
in ways I dismiss as negligible?
in ways I defend and justify
in my self-righteousness?
I often pray, Lord,
that you'll forgive my trespasses
as I forgive those
who trespass against me...
Will my own prayer
render a judgment against me?
What hostility, Lord,
keeps me from loving my neighbor
from seeing and loving in my enemy
what you see and love in the same person?
Which are the relationships, Lord,
where I withhold the mercy
I pray you'll offer me,
where I refuse to love
and choose instead to hate?
What feelings in my life, Lord, do I so stubbornly hold on to
and so tenaciously embrace
that I'm blinded to your word
and deaf to your command
that I love, not hate, my neighbor
even as I love myself?
What ill-will do I so doggedly cling to, Lord,
that I would jeopardize, that I'd risk losing
your forgiveness of my sins
and the heaven that awaits
those who humbly do your will?
It's November, Lord,
and I'm praying for those who have died...
Make me mindful of my own mortality,
of my weaknesses and flaws,
of my failings and my sins
and my ever-present, overwhelming need
for your grace to set me free
of all that keeps my heart
from loving you, my God
- and my neighbor as myself...
Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake
and watch over me while I sleep
that awake, I might keep watch with you
and asleep rest in your peace...
Amen.
Tonight's song is a simple and beautiful musical setting of an old prayer of uncertain authorship..
ROSS DOUTHAT: Death. Let's
talk about death.
DONALD TRUMP: Okay.
DOUTHAT: What do you think happens
when you die?
TRUMP: Well, I hope I'm missed.
(LAUGH) I hope--
DOUTHAT: No, I mean-- I mean to
you-- I mean to-- What do you think happens to Donald Trump when you die?
TRUMP: Okay. You mean where I go?
DOUTHAT: Exactly.
TRUMP: Well, I'm a religious
person, so in theory I go to heaven.
DOUTHAT: Do you think you're going
to heaven?
TRUMP: I hope so. I don't want to go to hell.
DOUTHAT: So I watched you at
Charlie Kirk's memorial service– Erica Kirk, his widow
got up - and gave some very moving
remarks about Christian forgiveness, how you have to forgive your enemies and
your opponents--
TRUMP: That's right.
DOUTHAT: And you followed her, and you said, and I know this was a little bit
of a joke but I think facts come through jokes. You said, quote, "I hate
my opponents and I don't want the best for them." Let's say you pass away,
you're entering the next life, and all you have to do to enter paradise is feel
love and forgiveness for James Comey, Nancy Pelosi, anyone who you have
expressed hate for over the years. Do you think you can do it?
TRUMP: Well, then I wouldn't be
real, would I? I mean, if I said to you, sure, the easy answer to that is
"Oh, yes, I could forgive."
DOUTHAT: No, I don't think it's an
easy question at all.
TRUMP: I found them to be
extremely dishonest people, very bad people, very bad for our country. I love
our country far more than I can love people and people like that.
DOUTHAT: Is the answer no then?
TRUMP: The answer is no. I want to
be honest, no. I think it would--
DOUTHAT: Before the judgment
throne of God?
TRUMP: Before the judgment. No, I think they were very bad people and-- I
dislike, I can use the word hate, I do hate some of my enemies. I think
they're-- they've been terrible. Look what they've put me through, the
weaponization. I got indicted - I got impeached.
DOUTHAT: Mr.
President. You have had the most charmed and remarkable life of any American in
my entire lifetime, and you are telling me that before the judgment throne of
God you couldn't find it in your heart to forgive some of your enemies? After
all that's been given to you? Come on. Help me out here.
TRUMP: I mean, it's such an easy
answer. All I have to do is say, "Yes, I can."
DOUTHAT: I-- I, again, I don't
think it's an easy answer--
TRUMP: Honestly, , can I-- can I
be honest--
DOUTHAT: --that's why I asked it. Yes.
TRUMP: I probably cannot do
that, no, because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.
