St Joseph's Presbytery, Nechells, Birmingham. - Photo: Gertrudes Samsom
I live with three other Columban lay missionaries in the presbytery attached to St Joseph’s Church in Nechells, which is surrounded by a cemetery on all sides. The place is very quiet and peaceful, but it speaks to us too because of the tombstones around us. I am often reminded to pray the prayer for souls, “Eternal Rest grant to them, Oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen!”
Many times, people cannot believe that this is where we live. The first time we took a taxi home at night, we told the taxi driver when to turn, but he still took the wrong turn. When we explained, the driver asked with uncertainty in his voice, “You live here? Here?”. We laughed and assured him, “Don’t worry, brother, we are humans!”
Before I joined the Columban lay missionaries, I read an article, dated more than twelve years ago, explaining that all believers were called saints in the early church. This fact was also mentioned in the “Sunday Plus” October 9 issue of the parish magazine, distributed in our current church, St Joseph’s. Nowadays we only think of saints as people who have died and been officially canonised by the Pope, but in the early church the term referred to all believers in Jesus Christ, both the living and the dead.
Columban lay missionary, Gertrudes Samsom standing in front of the tombstones that surround the house. - Photo: Gertrudes Samsom
Having that definition of a saint in the early church in my mind, when we were informed that St Joseph’s Presbytery would be vacant and asked if we were willing to live there, I dared to raise my hand and say YES. I’d been praying to St Joseph for months, ever since the landlord of the house we were renting had said he was planning to sell it. To me, the name of the place itself was a confirmation that St Joseph had indeed helped us and had provided a place for us to stay, just as he did for Jesus and Mother Mary.
Sometimes people say, “You do not have neighbours where you live.” To me, the saints and the departed faithful that surround us are our neighbours. Surely as we pray for them, they are praying for us too. Our house is attached to the church, which makes Jesus our next-door neighbour! With Jesus resurrected, he and his believers are indeed alive, for how could he speak to Moses and Elija at the time of his Transfiguration if they were dead or sleeping?
The four of us lay missionaries who live together in the presbytery know we may never be saints canonised by the Pope. Just like the apostles of Jesus sometimes we have moments of bliss in our journey together, and sometimes we have challenging moments too. I trust that in his time, Jesus will complete the good works he started in each of us, though the faith in our hearts might be small like a mustard seed. With that thought and the definition of “saint” in the early church, I believe I am living with saints inside the house as well as outside.
The tombstones that surround our house are a constant reminder to me of God asking me to be humble and embrace my mortality. Therefore, as the missionary Etienne de Grellet once said, “I shall pass this way but once. Any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” May God give me the grace to consistently apply it in my life before I join my neighbours on the other side.
Columban lay missionary, Gertrudes Samsom, lives and works in Britain.
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