Love Never Dies Again
“But soon we shall die, and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and then forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”—Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (HarperCollins, 1927), p. 107.
In his Foreword to The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Russell Banks reminds us that at the memorial service in New York for British victims of the attack on the World Trade Center, British Prime Minister Tony Blair read the closing sentences of Thornton Wilder’s novel. Of course, we hope that those we love will always feel our love throughout eternity. But we also want to tell them about loved ones, such as our parents, siblings, and grandparents, who they may not have known.
Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, and Wilder, in this novel, both tell us that the best love we have never dies. This is a mystery, but I know in my heart that it is true.
February 12th was my mother’s 104th birthday. We did not always appreciate each other, yet I still feel her love today. My parents died before I was ordained a deacon and before any of our grandchildren were born. Though my parents are not physically here, their love still surrounds us.
All the people in the picture from my parents’ wedding at my grandparents’ home on Third Street are now dead, yet I am so often lifted up by their presence in prayer and love. I feel the love from that home. That dining room table is now in our dining room. There are days when I feel a love whose only source may be the God of love. Sometimes I sense love from specific individuals who have died.
I think of the group of women with whom I have been reading books once a week for more years than I can count. After a recommendation from one of our members, Lisa Brandom, we read Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey as part of our literary journey. I feel the love of each of these women every time we meet. One friend reminded us that she would keep coming, even if we only read the phone book.
I now know I will feel their love in my heart for years to come, even after we can no longer see each other.
Love is all we have to offer in this life that will endure. Love is all we will carry with us into the life of the resurrection. Love is the bridge between our earthly home and our life in the resurrection.
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/