November 30, 2014

First Sunday of Advent B

Isaiah 63: 16-17, 19; 64: 2-7; 1 Corinthians 1: 3-0 Mark 13:33-37
My wanderings…Isaiah used the word ‘wander’ in the first reading and it seems to fit my spiritual journey. I wander in my readings trying to keep focused…I wander in my prayers…I wander in meditating and trying to be still before the Lord. I wander. So I look to the readings to help me today in in the journey I’m on.
The whole book of Isaiah is attributed to an eighth century court prophet from Jerusalem called Isaiah. Scholars say that he is only the author of the first thirty-nine chapters. Two other anonymous prophets writing in the same style and tradition of this Isaiah wrote Chapters 40-55 and Chapters 55 – 66…now referred to as Second Isaiah and Third Isaiah. Today’s reading comes from the third author who begins and ends with the Jewish people addressing God as ‘our father.’ The people had come a long way: in the first book they had wandered far away from their God and God had complained that the ‘children’ He had raised were rebellious. In today’s reading, they had returned to the Lord. And they are wondering why they had arrived at such a sorry state. Why had God allowed them to wander so far away? Why had God allowed their hearts to ‘become like stone’ and not able to respond to His call? They are pleading with God to return to them. How often my sins make me feel the same way…I have chosen my own way and was the one who abandoned God…and like the Israelites I keep coming back. But I come back with sorrow and not a very good feeling about myself. I view myself as being a traitor and hypocrite…why have I given in to temptation and abandoned my journey to the Lord?
The Israelites today know that they are unworthy, and describe themselves as ‘unclean and polluted’. They say that they ‘have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.” But they have not given up…they have hope. If God would return, He would find them living their lives in accord to His will, committed to the ways and teachings given them. How do they know this? Because God has created them; they are the works of God’s hands; He has formed them and they are now prepared to let God shape them as a potter creates. They are open, ready and willing to give up self and let God be God to them. The last sentence is their confident plea: “Yet, O Lord, You are our father; we are the clay and You the potter: we are all the work of Your hands.” In spite of all of their wanderings and unfaithfulness, in spite of all the sins and ‘turning God off’ and turning into themselves and their selfishness, God cares about them. God cares about me; God cares about all people. I wonder sometimes if it isn’t my projection that God is ‘angry’. When I did things wrong growing up at home, or in school or whenever someone was disappointed did I project that God had to be angry with me? Why can’t I view that I am a treasured creation of God and He loves me?
Paul brings this out in writing to the Corinthians: “I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in Him you were enriched in every way, with all discover and all knowledge as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you firm to the end…” Paul is telling them that they have been blessed with all the spiritual gifts they need to endure until the Lords’ coming. Paul is sharing what God is like, that God has and is filling me with all that I need. Am I aware of this? Am I aware that I have been chosen, as each person has, to be God’s instrument of love? When I feel that I am unlovable because of my unfaithfulness and sinfulness I give up hope. But God is constantly reminding me that I have to be patient and watchful and He is always with me; this is the theme of Jesus’ message in the Gospel.
Both Mark (student) and Paul (teacher) felt that the end of the world would come in their own lifetime. Jesus had told His disciples that it would take place but there is no indication of the exact time. So Mark doesn’t think that it is helpful to have all this wild speculation as to when this will come so he cautions patience and watchfulness. He compares it to man leaving his servants to keep watch until he returns form his travels. The servants do not know when he will return so they have to be totally prepared. As they continue their daily jobs they have to be alert and ready. It’s like my life: it has its ups and downs. I can’t presume that I will live past today. I need to live my live according to the faith commitments I have made. Do I have to be anxious, no? If I am living each day as best I can and somehow managing to get through the assaults of the devil then I am doing all that I can. I’m waiting on the Lord and opportunities to love.

Preaching to Adults, Teens, and Children share these insights on today’s readings: “Because of society’s emphasis on Christmas, Advent is a countercultural liturgical season. The somber tone of this Sunday’s readings seems to clash with the bright lights and evergreens that sprout on every corner. Because Christmastime celebrates the ideal time, when everyone is happy and at peace, Christmastime also highlights what is unhappy and unresolved, particularly for families.

Loneliness and alienation are part of the Christmas experience too, and the first reading from Isaiah touches those themes. In the face of sin and the consequences of sin, God’s promised return provides hope. Isaiah promises things will be different because God the Creator can reshape everything as a potter reshapes clay.

Anyone who hopes for something better is on the watch for the slightest sign of improvement. Those who are attuned to the arrival of the reign of God strain to see signs of its coming…Jesus’ return is like having an unexpected guest arrive for a surprise visit. Is the house clean? Was an argument just beginning? Is there enough food to share?”
So I reflect on:

• When I’m waiting what do I find myself doing? Whom do I look forward to meeting? What if it were the Lord?
  
• What hopeless situations do I face? How do I deal with them?
  
• Do I find it easier to live a good Christian life when I am in the company of other good Christians? Do I seek out people who I identify as being people of faith?
  
• Where do I go to build up the gift of faith God has given me? To whom do I go to do this? Am I willing to share my faith journey to a fellow companion?
  

In God’s time, the Son of Man will come. In the meantime, I as well as all His followers must be vigilant, and I have plenty of work to do.

November 23, 2014

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17, 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28; Matthew 25: 31-46
Today’s feast of Christ the King brings us to the last week of the Liturgical calendar. Next week begins the preparation for Christmas with the beginning of the Advent season.
The question has come to me and I’m sure to a lot of people…what I should be getting those special people in my life for Christmas. Why do I give gifts? It is a custom that I learned from my parents. It is a way to realize and give thanks to the many people who have been special to me, who have touched me with love and caring, who assist me in my daily journey to the Lord. This is what it is all about: helping me to realize that my life is a gift and I am to be a gift through the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given me. Am I doing this? Do I realize the importance of this commission and that it is a duty assigned me by the Lord? This is the import of the readings today and they come with an urgency that Christmas giving is a giving that should and must really occupy my daily life. At the end of the day it is good to ask who the important people in my life are. Did I treat them as being special? Who did I interact with today, did I treat them as important people since each person is important to God? Who were the people who just appeared in my life today? Did I avoid them, or respond to them? Was love seen in me?
Fr. Basil Pennington, one of the spiritual masters of our age explains,
“If each day a word of the Lord can truly come alive for us and can form our mind and heart, we will have that mind of Christ.”
One of Fr. Pennington’s beautiful books is Seeking His Mind in which he picks forty passages from the life of Christ and makes each a special meditation from the fruits of his own lectio divina. Today’s passage from Matthew is one of them, I now share this meditation:
“St Benedict of Nursia ends his Rule by asking: ‘What page, what word of the new and old Testaments is not the truest of guides for human life?’ If this is true of every word of life that our Lord Jesus has given us, it is certainly true of these five words: ‘You did it to Me.’
Back in the seventies, there was a popular musical on Broadway called Godspell. With a certain amount of humor, the play enacted the Gospel of St. Matthew. As this particular scene is played out and Jesus speaks the painful words of condemnation, one of the condemned ‘goats’ pop us and says: Lord, if I had known it was You I would have taken you around the corner and bought you a cup of coffee.’
A big if.
Hearing Jesus’ words here, we have little excuse. He makes Himself very clear, drawing out His teaching with a striking portrayal. True, it would have had even more impact on His agrarian audience than on urban Americans today. But still we have no difficulty imagining the scene.
If we took to heart the final words of Jesus as He pronounced His judgment, how different would not our whole life be? ‘You did it to Me.’ If we realized and were constantly conscious that whatever we do to each other, to any human person, we do to Jesus, to the Son of God, to our beloved Savior, how then would we act?
If we realized we are talking to Jesus—even when we are talking to our children, to somebody who is rude to us, to someone who has hurt us, to a subordinate, to the vendor on the corner, to the panhandler—would we say some of the things we say? Or would we speak otherwise?
If we realized that Jesus is in need of clothing, would we leave all those unused or rarely used clothes hanging in our closets? If we knew He is sick, would we put off visiting a sick acquaintance in the hospital? If we knew He is everyone who needs help, would we not perhaps consider giving some of our spare time to prison ministry or to visiting a children’s hospital to hold and comfort a little one who desperately needs more human touch? Would we be more generous in stocking the parish food pantry, find time to lend a hand at the soup kitchen?
If we really realized the impact of these words, ‘You did it to Me,’ would we not consider it a privilege to serve the poor and needy in whatever way we can? If we really loved our Lord, would we not be eager to have this chance to care for Him? It is this realization that drove Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who clearly saw Jesus in each person no matter how wretched the least one was.
Stop for a moment. One after the other, let come before your mind’s eye the face of each person who is an intimate part of your life. As you see each one, let his or her image fade into the face of Christ. It is the Lord. Then let there come to your mind’s eye the face of some of those you have encountered of late: the woman at the checkout counter and the lad doing the bagging, the beggar on the street with his pleading eyes, the person who banged into you as you were trying to leave the elevator or subway. And let each become the Lord. Did we interact with them the way we would really want to, knowing that in responding to them we are responding to our Lord?
‘You did it to Me.’ These five little words can be a true guide for our lives. Living them can transform us. Someday Jesus will say to you and to me: ‘You did it to Me.’ How will we feel then? Which side will we be on at that moment? Will we lamely say: ‘Lord, if I had known . . .?’
The Gospel reading puts the judgment at the end-time in its proper perspective. The ‘King’ judges on the basis of how closely I have modeled my life on the way that Jesus acted. Have I stayed to myself or have I sought out the hungry, thirsty, the stranger and the lost welcoming them, clothing them? The hungry and thirsty encompasses those who are in need of spiritual help, physical help, emotional help, a helping hand, a smiling face, a listening ear and a kind word. It all comes down to me and my living the Gospel of life as Jesus showed me. The way to proceed is from one needy person to the next. How many acts of kindness did I do today? Where did I see God? What did God do for me today? I offer gratitude for all these opportunities to see how much love God has and how much I am loved and how this love is needed.
So I reflect on:

• Based on my life this past week, would I be among the sheep or the goats? What have I done for others without thinking of myself?
  
• When have I been cared for by someone when I was ill, confused or discouraged? How did I feel toward the one who cared for me?
  
• If Christ became pastor of my parish, what would be the first thing He would do?
  

Sacred Space 2014 adds:

“This dramatic story calls me to conversion to my sisters and brothers who are in need. With Jesus, I look at my life. Do I put myself out for others and share what I can?

Jesus identifies with the needy. Everyone I meet is a sister or brother for whom Christ died, as St. Paul says. I may not be able to do much for others, but I can show them the respect and dignity that they need most of all.”

November 16, 2014

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6; Matthew 25: 14-30

As the Church year winds down, the readings always give the opportunity for each person to examine their own lives and to judge how one is living as a disciple of Jesus. How am I preparing for the life in heaven? Do I feel that I have plenty of time to prepare or do I see the immediacy of the situation? If I am ‘delaying’ why am I doing that? Am I enjoying the comfortable life and not wanting to change because I know that change is necessary if I am to live as Jesus?
I continue to look at myself and to judge my actions, my plans, my responsibilities , my gifts and my daily living and ask: in what have I invested this past year? What projects am I excited about and enthusiastic over? Have I a place for God in my future plans? Am I providing space for my spiritual development?
Is any of my hesitation due to fear? Do I realize that Jesus has redeemed me and gives me grace to be the person He needs me to be?
I look to the wisdom in the readings to help me in my judging. It may be strange to hear the first reading from Proverbs and thinking that these are the qualities of an ideal wife or virtuous woman and it doesn’t have any meaning to me? The first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as a woman who invites all to seek true ‘Wisdom’. The remaining chapters contain a collection of proverbs and wise saying that are very useful in living a successful life. The book closes with today’s first reading where ‘Wisdom’ is going to the streets seeking followers while this woman stays at home attending to all the household needs. The many proverbs challenge each person to search for wisdom, the wisdom of God. The underlying theme is that His wisdom and success are available to all, regardless of their gender. So am I seeking the wisdom of God in living my daily life as best I know how in light of His teachings and guidance?
The second reading from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians puts my future into definite perspective: “…You yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.” For people who refuse to believe in Jesus, their last day will come as a ‘thief in the night’. Paul says that they will suffer disaster and be lost in the darkness. Now Paul and the early Christians believed that the risen Jesus would return and this would be the end-time. They believed that this return was imminent and would definitely happen in their own lives. When Jesus returned He would judge the living and the dead and how they lived their lives; their actions would decide their fate. The Thessalonians asked Paul “When,” and he responded “when you least expect”…”like a thief in the night”. Paul asked, ‘So what are you doing…how are you preparing for this…how are you living your lives…are you living as Jesus showed you…or are you enjoying the good life…do you think that Jesus was serious or are you playing ‘Russian roulette’? Today is the day to act!
Then Matthew shares Jesus’ parable; He delivers this just before the Palm Sunday procession and Holy Week. Jesus had left the temple in Jerusalem and was teaching end-time thoughts to His disciples. The titles of these in the New American Bible are as follows: The Destruction of the Temple Foretold: The Beginning of Calamities, the Great Tribulation; The Coming of the Son of Man; the Lesson of the Fig Tree; The Unknown Day and Hour; the Faithful or the Unfaithful Servant; the Parable of the Ten Virgins; and todays, Parable of the Talents. Each parable is alerting His disciples and me to the urgency at hand: to live today as Jesus so that I am prepared for my last day and my first day in eternity.

Matthew, A Devotional Commentary gives a beautiful reflection for me and I share it, “Jesus will come again. We don’t know when or how, but He has promised that He will return in glory to establish a new heaven and a new earth. We who live in the time between Jesus’ ascension and His return are called to vigilance and resourcefulness as we await the coming of our king.

Just as an industrious wife takes initiative in caring for her household (today’s first reading), so the church is called to manage her affairs wisely and prudently. During this time of anticipation, we are called to use our resources to spread the gospel and to ensure the spiritual prosperity of the church. We are called to serve our Master and please Him in all of our actions. Our vigilance affects the way we live. By walking as ‘sons of light and sons of the day’—through obedience to God’s commands and a life of prayer and love—we attest to our faith in Christ’s return (today’s second reading).

Every day, we have many opportunities to use the gifts God has given us. As the parable of the talents shows, two servants took risks with the money they were given; they invested it and earned a good return. The third was afraid to take any risks, and so he hid the money and returned it to his master at the first opportunity. Like the first two servants, we are also called to take risks for the kingdom of God, stepping out in faith and watching to see God move as we trust in Him.

God does not give us gifts and talents so that we will hide them or turn them to selfish ends. Every one of us has been uniquely constituted by the Lord to play a role in the advancement of His kingdom, using all the resources He has given us. Whether it be money, abilities, time, or training and background, nothing is irrelevant. We can be assured that any initiatives we take to use our gifts will be blessed. Remember: God’s desire for His people is always much greater than ours; He will do everything He can to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.

As we give of ourselves, we will see God’s power and glory revealed. Our active involvement in this life is truly an adventure, filled with opportunities to use all that God has given us and to see Him work wonders as we do. This is our high calling. Let us accept it with gratitude and joy.”
So I reflect on:

• If the final judgment of the world would happen tomorrow, would I be ready? What do I need to do and change in my life so that I could be ready? Would it really be that hard to do? Or would it be more ‘swallowing my pride’ and just being more of the God person God has touched me to be?
  

Sacred Space 2014 shares:
“I take a few moments with Jesus to review my talents and be grateful for them. Then I ask Him if I am using them in ways that respond to the needs of those around me.

It is a wonderful thing that I should be able to bring joy to God. Jesus set out to please His Father (John 8:29), and my life takes on new color when I do likewise.”

I have found that it’s all about living in the presence of God now. How am I doing? Am I allowing God to help me with this? He loves me that much!

November 9, 2014

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Ezekiel 47: 1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Corinthians 3: 9-11, 16-17; John 2: 13-22
Several times during the Church cycle, the dedication of this church or that church is celebrated. It is good to remember history and to see how each person is a part of that history.
Did you know that the Diocese of Richmond was formed from America’s first diocese, the Archdiocese of Baltimore and that it is among the nation’s eight oldest Catholic dioceses? Pope Pius VII on July 11, 1820 decreed the Diocese of Richmond into existence which encompassed the entire state of Virginia including West Virginia. Bishop Patrick Kelly from Kilkenny, Ireland was the first bishop and the first Cathedral was St. Peter’s Church which was built in 1834. The present Cathedral of the Sacred Heart was built in 1906. Bishop DiLorenzo is the twelfth Bishop of Richmond being installed on May 24, 2004.
If the question is asked ‘What is the Cathedral Church of Rome’ most would answer ‘Well St. Peter’s of course.’ This is wrong. Today marks the anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral Church of Rome, St. John Lateran. The Emperor Constantine shortly after he legalized Christianity in the early fourth century gave the land owned by the Laterani Family to the Church to build a basilica. It was dedicated as a place of Christian worship on November 9, 324. So this is the ‘HOME’ church of the Bishop of Rome, the pope. On its façade are is the words of Pope Clement XII (1730-40) saying that this basilica is the ”mother and head of all churches of Rome and the world” It was the residence of the popes from the 4^th century until their moving to Avignon in 1309 and it was the site of five ecumenical councils. The present structure was commissioned by Pope Innocent X in 1646 and under the high altar rests the remains of the small wooden table which tradition says St. Peter celebrated Mass on. The original church was dedicated to the Savior and later on to St. John the Baptist.
So what is the importance of today’s feast to me and to Christians as we celebrate today’s feast? The readings help us with this.
The first reading is from the prophet Ezekiel and in his writings the temple of the Lord is a big part of his visions. Before the collapse of the kingdom, his visions predicted God’s abandoning the temple because it had been made so unclean by the sins of the people. Ezekiel envisioned a new temple constructed by God and not humans. It represents the ideal place where God and every person ever created come together. His 43: 7 states it so dramatically, “The voice said to me: Son of man, this is where my throne shall be, this is where I will set the soles of my feet; here I will dwell among the Israelites forever. Never again shall they and their kings profane my holy name with their harlotries and with the corpses of their kings [their high places].” So God’s presence brings new life, this is symbolized by a stream of water flowing from God to His people. The water brings new life in the form of all kinds of living creatures. Trees have fresh fruit as food and as medicine and this is year-round. This prophecy is adding another vision which is seen in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
Paul shares that the foundation of ‘this building’ is Jesus, Paul calls Him a master builder. Now the big point is Paul is saying to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are is holy.” Do I consider that ‘my body is holy’? Do I know why it is holy? Because the Spirit of God is always with me and every person.
In the Gospel Jesus makes it obvious that He has come to bring an old belief system to fulfillment. The temple had become a marketplace where people were selling animals for sacrifice. NOW Jesus was talking about the temple of His body and alluding to His own death and resurrection. The people listening thought that Jesus was referring to the Temple in Jerusalem. But He was talking about His body, which has now replaced the temple. We no longer need a building, we no longer need to put faith in a temple. Everything that the temple was understood to provide for the Jewish people is now understood to come from Jesus. And as Vatican II so very frequently expressed…WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD.

Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings explores this phrase “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” She says, “One last question on this feast of sacred places: what’s a temple? The term implies a sacred precinct, the most famous of which was the Temple of Jerusalem built to honor the God of Israel. Biblically, it was understood to be more than a house of worship, but rather God’s temporal address. The community around Jesus were shocked to hear Him speak of the Temple’s destruction: historically, it had happened once, at the time of the Babylonian invasion in 587BC, and took the core of life out of the nation.

Jesus of course was referring to Himself as the residence of divine indwelling. St. Paul celebrated the phrase as the truth about all believers. God’s spirit of holiness lives in us as authentically as it does in consecrated places and sacramental signs. The sacred encounter happens wherever we are.”

So I ask am I the presence of Jesus? Have I been the presence of Jesus so far this day? This past week? Am I ‘living proof’ that God is alive and spreading His love through me?
So I reflect on:

• Have I been at Church today? This week? Have I been at my place of worship recently? What makes this place, sacred for me?
  
• As I look at my spiritual journey, I remember the places that has been places of pilgrimage; what experiences of God touched me?
  
• Alice Camille asks, “Being God’s temple is an honor, a surprise, a responsibility, and a challenge. Which reality is most present to you now?”
  
• When I hear the word ‘church’ what first comes to me: a building or a community of people?
  

Sacred Space 2014 says:

“Jesus is angry as He sees the lack of respect the people have for His Father’s house, the place of prayer, the place of presence. The people are blind to who Jesus is and deaf to His message.

How patient you are with us, Lord, as we stumble and weave our way through life without the realization of Your silent presence waiting for us to awaken to Your unfailing love.”

November 2, 2014

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

Isaiah 25: 6-9; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 5:1-12
Seldom is All Souls day, November 2 on a Sunday; when it is we have the special honor to celebrate the feast of people that we knew, who were important to us, whom we loved and who loved us deeply.
One of the great privileges that I have as a priest is to celebrate the funeral liturgies of people who have passed on to the Lord. Many times, I get a chance to talk to the families and to find out more about the person who has passed. Given the chance, I ask two questions: what was special about the person who passed and what will you miss most of all about that person. Tears come, stories are shared, treasured memories come out in the open and there is a celebration of the person’s life. Some comments usually come up: ‘I thought I would die first’…’I’m so glad that the Lord took him/her, they were in so much pain and now their pain has ended’…’what will I do without him/her?’...’she/he was a beautiful person and I’m sure they are with the Lord in heaven’…’they lived life as lovely person.’ So, I say, they were saints…it takes a while to process this, but the response so often is ‘Yes’.
Now the bottom line is that each person is called to be a saint. Not only that, but God gives to each person the grace, the help and the ability to be a saint. Now If I asked everyone who reads this blog and someone in turn asked me the same question, ‘Are you a saint?’ All would respond, as I would, ‘No!’ Yet that is THE WAY that we get to heaven to be with our loved ones who we honored yesterday on the feast of All Saints and today on the feast of All Souls. Do we realize that God sends us these ‘special people’ who touch us, share with us their love, and show us how to love? Do we realize that each of us being loving people we are on the path to heaven? So the question really is how am I doing in being a loving person? Am I learning from the ‘saints’ God has placed in my life? Looking back, if I was the first person to die, and the question was asked of my survivors: ‘What was special…and what will you miss most of all? The responses would reflect the saintly qualities that our loved ones see in each of us. Each person is on a journey. Are we fighting to avoid the ‘way to heaven’; are we waiting to get on the right road at a later time’; are we putting one foot in front of the other and keep going although sometimes we go backwards? Effort is what is needed, not success.
So how would you describe a saint? Next, who are the saints you have known in your own life? How special were they to you and me and how special were we to them? The one commonality is that they are in heaven because they were beautiful people. So who are the saints: people not unlike you and me? They were people who were able to say ‘yes’ a little more often than ‘no’. They showed us love maybe a little more deeply than we show and forgave when they least wanted to and gave without measuring how much they gave. Were they heroic people? Probably a better description was that they were ‘Real people’. Did they have faults and failings, absolutely…did they mess up, yes; did they always get things right, no. But they were able to do special things with an extraordinary amount of love and perseverance. These are ‘our’ heroes who are in heaven…I believe this…and everyone who is in heaven is a saint.
There is a story that is told about how long it takes to get heaven from the eyes of a middle school student. When the topic came up about heaven one question was asked “How long does it take to get to heaven?” One anxious student had an immediate response: “I know…I know…call on me? His answer was: “It takes 5 days to get to heaven!” That certainly was surprising…how come only five days? “Well, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit when He returned to heaven on Ascension Thursday…and ten days later the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost…so it’s simple five days to get to heaven and five days back.” That ended the questions for the class that day.
Looking back: we were conceived, probably no one is certain when that happened. In God’s time we were born and in God’s time we will die. Important are the promises that Jesus gave His followers:

• “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though thy die will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11: 25-26)
  
• If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
  
• “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me and I will not reject anyone who comes to Me, because I came down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of the One who sent Me. And this is the will of the One who sent Me, that I should not lose anything of what He gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes I Him may have eternal life, and I shall raise them on the Last day.”
  
• “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed Me, naked and you clothed Me, ill and you cared for Me, in prison and you visited Me.”…Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for Me.”
  

So I reflect on:
From Preaching to Adults, Teens and Children: “When a loved one dies, the survivors usually deal with the death by telling stories about them, their lives, and those moments they fondly remember. This sharing of stories gives the friends and relatives permission to laugh and to cry. It is also a way to hold on to the memory, to keep the memory alive, and in a sense, to cling to the reality of the life that was lived. It makes the loved one present again in the community. All Souls Day can be a day for telling stories and sharing memories.”
From Sacred Space 2014:
“At that time Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
“Jesus offers us a lifeline: ‘Come to me,’ He says. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? And yet we find it difficult to believe that reaching out to Him can make a difference.
Lord, You invite us to take Your hand and walk with You through this ‘valley of tears.’ But how stubborn we can be sometimes! Help us be open to Your whispered invitation and respond with faith and generosity.”