As Dr Val Garlick and family meet today in the church to bid farewell to Dr Frank Garlick, Anna and I want to join with them in remembering Frank and praising God for sending him to be amidst people whom he befriended in Australia, India, Nepal and elsewhere.
Frank became present to those he met in different ways, as a doctor, friend, companion, confidant, writer, speaker, visionary, pioneer, counsellor, enabler...! He accompanied many of us and enabled us to find our path and purpose! I gather from the social media references to him that there were medical students at the Christian Medical College who found Frank and Val's home a place to go to, when they needed listening companions.
Anna and I want to refer to a series of Biblical meditations that Frank gave at the Medical student's work camp at Christian Hospital in Periyakulum, in 1973 to highlight the message that still resonates within us.
The text Frank chose to take his five meditations was from, Isaiah 54: 1-3.
"Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not, lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess lions, and they will resettle the desolate cities".
This prophecy referred to the people of Israel and the hope with which they were called to live in difficult times when they were in captivity or exile.
Referring to this history of the people of Israel, Frank reflected on the first verse, where the prophet called out for the barren to break forth into joyful shouting, because, 'the sons of the desolate will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman'.
The five meditations Frank gave on this theme, brought foundational messages of significance to our lives. Most of us attending the work camp were medical students, who were embarking on our personal journey to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth. It was the first time I heard Frank speak publicly. His overview of the Scripture surprised and moved me. He enthused me to find in the pages of the Scripture treasures and truths for personal formation. I feel grateful for that initiation to be regular in reading the Scripture to grow in to the practice of lectio divina.
Let me summarise the themes of those five meditations.
As health care professionals we are called to bring joyful hope to those who live barren and bereft lives.
God is at work to bring surprises into human lives.
Seasons of suffering are integral to our formation for experiencing the fullness in life.
The period of waiting is for hopeful preparation to receive what is about to happen.
The place of your tent is your inner space, which we are called to enlarge.
All these five themes were uniquely presented to make us experience the presence of God in the biography of our lives. What came forth clearly in those meditations was that the experiential dimension of the spiritual journey will spring forth from the habit of making the scripture the 'indwelling word' within us.
Fifty years later, as Anna and I reflect on the life experiences we have had, the five foundational values Frank outlined in his meditations at the work camp formed the scaffolding to interpret our life events.
As a junior resident at that time, I was wondering about the opportunities ahead of me to be engaged in healthcare. Fifty years later, Anna and I are in health care in the discipline of Developmental Pediatrics, which did not exist as a specialty at that time in India, when we were moved to be involved in 1983. The years of preparation and waiting before moving into the world of neuro-developmentally challenged children, arose from the call to 'enlarge the inner space', Anna and I heard from what Frank spoke at the Periyakulum work camp.
The inner space within us is a place of hope. It is the store house of our aspirations as well as our life experiences. It is a confluence and meeting place of the joys and sorrows of our life. It was Frank who introduced us to the idea of be-friending the dark inner space, where our hurts and wounds reside. Instead of inadvertently allowing the hurts and wounds to fester, by dwelling on them, we can learn from them. His message to us was to demystify them and find the lessons from those experiences and integrate them into our consciousness, so that the experiences can get subsumed by the learning experiences which can brighten the light within.
Frank often spoke about living in the present, neither in the past nor in the future. Living in the present meant for him, being present to ourselves, to the God of our lives and the neighbours around us.
Anna and I remember Val, who by her nature and calling remained as a soul mate, helping Frank to live his life well and to the full. We realise how Val, with amazing composure and fortitude went through times of changes and the transitions in their lives. This involved relocations, adjustments to new situations and work, times when Frank needed few surgeries, hospital stay, and his illness of the recent years, the needs of children and grandchildren, supporting friends and families...!
Val carried Frank through through the experiences in his life with love, understanding and devotion! Frank received and responded to that companionship generously and gratefully! This has been an example of mutuality at its height in any marriage relationship, Anna and I have witnessed among our friends.
Anna and I present a bunch of flowers to Val in memory of Frank and in appreciation of Val for making their lives an aroma of service to God of their lives.
Anna and I feel bereft at the loss of Frank from our midst. His memories stay with us because Frank lived his life, giving and sharing to make others find their pasture!
We pray that God of comfort would help all of us to live with the sadness gratefully and hopefully!
As the rose flower, after its full life fades away from the bunch of flowers leaving its stalk in the plant as a memorial of its history of presence, so has Frank moved on leaving an authentic testimony to a life well lived during his earthly pilgrim journey! He lived with the marks of godliness in his life in search of becoming incarnate in human situations and be gently present in the lives of people to make a difference. Frank faced personal struggles and responded to challenges during his journey and now lives on in our memory as one who was a Good Samaritan to all those to whom he could reach out!
Anna and M C Mathew(text and photo)
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