Just Right Bed

Seeing our whole earthly life as a long vacation

07/16/2023

Gn 49:29-32; 50:15-26a Jacob gave his sons this charge: "Since I am about to be taken to my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried,and so are Isaac and is wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah– the field and the cave in it that had been purchased from the Hittites." Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father's family. Joseph said to his brothers: "I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, "When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up with you from this place." Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten.

What is the best part of returning home after a long vacation? I have enjoyed seeing our parish families post pictures on social media of splashing on the beach, showing off their large mouth bass, or quietly gazing over the mountain peaks that raise their minds to God. But invariably all families agree the best part of returning home, no matter how enchanting their breaks were, is sleeping in their own bed.

Their whole vacation they slept in other beds, like the story of the little old lady and the three bears. She eats their porridge and then tries each of their beds. One is too soft, another is too hard, but the third is just right. So, too, on vacation our parishioners sleep on some beds that are too soft, an others that are too hard. Only when they return home do they find the bed that feels just right. By the way, that is why I say my vacation starts when our parishioners leave Fort Smith (and leave me alone!). And I get to sleep in my just right bed every night.

The first reading today is taken from the conclusion of the book of Genesis, that is, from chapters 49 and 50. In each chapter the two great patriarchs, Jacob and Joseph, express their dying wishes on where they want to be buried. They are at that point in the history of Israel living comfortably in Egypt, indeed, in the most luxurious part of Egypt called Goshen. But where do Jacob and Joseph demand they be buried? Back home in the Promised Land of Israel.

Jacob says, “Bury me with my fathers (Abraham and Isaac).” And Joseph states: “When God thus takes care of you (frees you from Egyptian slavery), you must bring my bones up with you from this place.” In other words, both patriarchs saw their journey in Egypt like a long vacation – indeed a 430 year vacation!

They had slept in many Egyptian beds in that centuries-long sojourn. Some were too soft (like in Goshen), and others were too hard (when they were slaves). But both Jacob and Joseph knew that there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed after a long vacation, and they demanded they would be laid to rest in the land of Israel.

I have noticed a shift in thinking among many of our Hispanic immigrants regarding where to be buried in the 26 years I have been ordained. In my first five years as a priest, if a Hispanic parishioner died, they always desired to be taken back to their home country to be buried. Like Jacob and Joseph, they felt a need to be laid to rest in the land of their fathers. I suppose if any of our Anglo families were on vacation in Europe or South America or England, and tragically died, we would also insist on returning to the U.S. to be buried in Fort Smith, in our family plot.

But more recently, that thinking has changed, and more Hispanics are buried here in Fort Smith. Perhaps they feel their vacation in America has turned into a home-coming, and they have found the beds here are not too soft or too hard, but feel just right. Today, many of our Hispanics travel on vacation to Mexico or El Salvador, but they cannot wait to come home and sleep in their own bed.

Of course, all this business about where to be buried is secondary. What is primary is how we die - hopefully in a state of grace and receiving the sacraments and we are remembered at the altar at Mass. One of my favorite vignettes in St. Augustine’s book “Confessions” is when Monica is dying and Augustine and his brother are discussing where to bury their mother: in Italy or in their home land of Carthage in Northern Africa.

St. Monica, unlike Jacob and Joseph (who did not have the benefit of the revelation of Christ) chides her children saying: “Bury my body wherever you will; let not care of it cause you any concern. One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the atlar of the Lord wherever you may be.”

St. Monica understood that our whole earthly life is like one long vacation. And that all beds here on earth should feel either too soft or too hard. We should not really desire any earthly bed. Only when we sleep in heaven will we find eternal rest and peace. That is why she wanted to be remembered at the altar at Mass. The best part of every vacation is coming home and sleeping in your own bed.

Praised be Jesus Christ!