by Paul Eliefrom Georgetown University
David Carr, Lazarus-like, Took a Second Chance
The journalist David Carr, who died suddenly last week, was the younger brother of John Carr, who is a cherished colleague of ours at Georgetown.
The Jesuit priest James Martin, too, is a cherished colleague of a kind, working the seam where religion
and society meet from America House and in his books and media
commentary.
Jim gave the eulogy at David Carr’s
funeral Mass, held at St. Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan earlier in the
week. Out of town the day of the funeral, I asked Jim if he would
share the text of his eulogy with me, and he did so; and I was taken
with its fresh insight into a life story that has been told and
retold from multiple angles – Carr’s own approach – these past
few days.
Jim compared David Carr – whose struggle to overcome drug addiction was wound deep into his character and his story – to Lazarus, who was brought from the dead back to life in the gospels. And he did so in such a way as to suggest that all of us are addicted, in one way or another, and all of us are raised from the dead in one way or another.
There was, for some time, a kind of death, a hitting bottom, a long period in which he dwelt in the tomb–like Lazarus. And then, through a variety of means, he was called back to life. Astonishing life. Unbelievable life. Incomparable life. Now how does that happen in our real lives? Well, not in the precisely the same way it did in the Gospels. But in other ways: through the deep love of our family, through friends who prod us, through the help of programs like AA, and through people willing to give us second chances.
And in those moments God is saying to us, “Come forth!” Come forth! And is that any less of a miracle than what happened at the Tomb of Lazarus? Is that kind of new life any less miraculous if it happens not instantly, as it did for Lazarus, but over many months and years, as it did for David? Was David any less a miracle than Lazarus?
How does this happen? How does God change someone from an addict to a loving father, a wonderful husband, a devoted friend, a great neighbor, a beloved colleague, a compassionate mentor, and one of the greatest journalists of our age?
Jim’s answer involved the mystery of grace – which is notoriously difficult to pin down, much less to explain. As Jim put it, grace involves being open to grace, which he explained this way:
To quote David again, “the trick is being grateful and hope that the caper doesn’t end anytime soon.”
Father Martin concluded by proposing that David Carr’s caper isn’t over: “Really, the caper has just begun.” And he suggested that if we want to understand second chances – want to understand the mystery of grace, so called – David Carr’s story is a good place to start.
The photograph is of David Carr taking a breather during a cycling trip in the Adirondacks, which he wrote about in a piece called “All That You Leave Behind.”
