I’ve taken a liking this Summer, with the company of an old friend, to watching movies before I go to bed. I’ve been staying in my parents’ guest house where they have a lot of old VHS movies. The other night I watched Dead Man Walking with Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. I had seen it a while ago, but I don’t think I was old enough to catch all the nuances of the complicated relationship that develops between the nun and the man to whom she is ministering throughout the movie.
At the end of the movie, Sean Penn’s character is walking to his execution with Susan Sarandon, his spiritual adviser, close behind. At one point the “dead man walking” breaks down and won’t continue moving. The woman who has become his only true friend looks him in the eyes and says “I don’t want the last thing you see on this earth to be a face of hate. I want you to see a face of love. So look at me, I’ll be your face of love.” I thought that was an amazing line.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the next year. The Race is only about two months away now, and the plethora of relationships that lie ahead feels daunting at times. I will meet countless people, all with completely different backgrounds from my own, and to all of whom I feel called to minister. Sometimes I get worried about not knowing native languages and cultures, or not having the words to say or knowing how to act. Hearing the way that a nun comforted a death row inmate in his last moments in that movie reminded me of an important truth: we are only called to be that face of love. God pours His love on us that we may let it me the light that shines through us to the rest of the world. Even though I may feel ill-equipped, I need only remember that in all things I am called to be a face of love to the broken and hurting all around the world.
I’ll be your face of love.
