“for Christians it is God that chases after man.”
The Poet
Francis Thompson was a poet, a mystic, and a devout Catholic. At one point early in his life he began studies to enter the priesthood, but he soon abandoned that effort. At the urging of his father, a doctor, he then entered medical school. But the prospect of being a physician did not appeal to him any more than the priesthood and those studies were also abandoned.
His life then began to drift as he pursued a career as a writer. Eventually he found himself in London where his poverty was so severe he sold matches to earn money and wrote poems on borrowed paper. His health then began to decline. He contracted Neuralgia, a debilitating pain caused by nerve damage. To counteract the pain he began to take an opioid called laudanum. He soon became an addict.
Because of his poor living conditions he then contracted tuberculosis. And although he fought his addiction, the tuberculosis took his life just short of his forty eighth birthday.
The Hound of Heaven
But through this troubled, tortuous life, came one of the greatest English poems, The Hound of Heaven. In the poem, the speaker runs from God in order to maintain the pleasures of his worldly life. But God pursues him.
The speaker runs from place to place and even pleads with the dawn to be brief, that night may come all the more quickly and hide him once again. But Divine Grace ever follows, untiringly, until the soul is forced at last to turn to Him alone.
One of the things that makes Christianity different from all other religions is its attitude towards the relationship between God and man. There is a wide expanse that separates the world of men from the world of God(s). In most other religions of the world man seeks to bridge this gap, reaching out to God. In this view it is man that takes the initiative, ever seeking out the divine.
But in Christianity it is God who seeks us out. God builds the bridge that spans the expanse separating Him from His creation. In other beliefs, man chases God, but for Christians it is God that chases after man.
Man then is faced with a choice, to run towards God or to run away from Him. But God is a tireless hunter. In the end, when we have exhausted ourselves, as th epoet records, God is still there reaching out to us.
On The Run From God
The prophet Jonah is also a man on the run from God.
When Jonah is called by God to preach to the Ninevites, the prophet boards a boat headed in the opposite direction.
Jonah hated the Ninevites. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyria. When Assyria conquered the Israelites, it was to Nineveh that the prisoners and looted treasure were sent.
So Jonah turned away from God’s call out of fear and hatred. And what happens? A great storm arises at sea. Jonah admits to the crew that he has disobeyed God and He is thrown overboard because the crew fears God’s wrath. Jonah is swallowed by a large fish. The prophet spends three days and three nights in the belly of the fish until he at last is willing to submit himself to God’s will. The fish then spits him out on dry land. He ends up on shore right back where he started, with God giving him the same mission.
Even then he is still reluctant. But when he preaches to the Ninevites, they are converted. They repent of their former ways and seek the forgiveness of God, much to Jonah’s chagrin.
Like Jonah, each of us is given a mission, a task to expand the Kingdom of God. A task that we can accomplish in a way unique to our gifts.
God has given us the freedom to choose. We can accept this commission or run from it. If we choose to run from it, our lives will be full of frustration, for we are not living up to our full potential.
God gives us a mission, we run the other way, we hit a wall, and God gives us a mission. We cannot successfully run from the call of God. If we try, we only end up in storms or back where we started with little to show for our wayward journey.
The life of Francis Thompson did not end on the same note that his early life would suggest. At the lowest point, selling matches to pay for his opium addiction, he sent some of his poems and essays to Wilfred Meynell, the editor of a new Catholic magazine titled “Merry England.” Meynell was so taken with the poet’s work that he sought him out, paid his debts, and saw his health restored as much as possible.
After finding his vocation, Francis Thompson spent the last twenty years of his too-short life surrounded by friends, and never again living in want of food, clothing, or shelter. It was during this period that he wrote “The Hound of Heaven,” and his passing was mourned by the likes of G.K. Chesterton, and a young J.R.R. Tolkien.
Are we avoiding that one thing in life that we feel God calling us to? Has God given us a mission that we are ignoring? Are we in the midst of a storm because of it? Are we paralyzed by hate or fear?
Let this be the day we say to God — Yes, I will do the right thing — With the help of your love, I will conquer hatred — With the help of your courage — I will conquer fear.
Pax vobiscum
The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time