Will Your Whole Life Pass Before Your Eyes?

I hope not.  But for the longest time, I’ve heard people say that's what  will happen when we die.  Unfortunately, the emphasis in that review of life always seems skewed to seeing the bad stuff more than the good stuff.  And that raises my anxiety.     

But listen to this. At the close of the Holy Year of Mercy last weekend, Pope Francis declared that “God has no memory of sin!” In other words, when our sins are forgiven they are also forgotten by God.  That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time!

“God has no memory of sin”.  Pause here and just think about that…

At funerals I share an image of what happens when we die.  I imagine that we fall into God’s arms and He pulls us close to Him and He whispers in our ears.  And He tells us how much He loves us and he describes all the good things He noticed in our lives. And we will feel sooo good that God noticed those things.

If you grew up when I did, you probably think that God only noticed the bad stuff!

What are the good things that God will whisper in your ear when you see Him face to face?                                          Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

                                                  Buddy  Benches and Safety Pins

Brian got his Eagle Scout award two years ago.  His project was to build buddy benches for a local Catholic grade school.  The benches offer kids a place to sit when they feel bullied, put down or not included. Other students or faculty join them on those benches to offer support, suggestions and encouragement. 

Last week local children faced a new round of hostility. In Racine some Latino kids were harassed at a bus-stop when others shouted: ‘Your parents are going to be deported’ or ‘Go back to Mexico’.  In Greendale a worried teen asked a teacher if her Muslim parents “would be forced to wear identification badges.”

Children and teens should not have to deal with these things.

My sister says her friends in Kokomo are wearing safety pins on their clothing now.  The pins designate people who are ‘safe’ to talk to, when kids, teens or others need reassurance or support from someone they can trust. Will this help?  I don’t know.  But it’s at least a sign of  love in a world that needs it. 

What can you do to diffuse meanness and create a better atmosphere for children, teens and others who are put down or afraid? Name one thing you will do. 

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                                                                   Love and Death

Each November our Gospels treat the issue of death as faithful Christians face it.  So ends our Liturgical Year with Advent on the horizon.

Here is a story about a death that touched me deeply. Barb had irreversible heart problems. She was on life support. The doctors could do nothing. She didn’t want to prolong ‘extraordinary means’ to live, so she opted to stop the treatments.*   

Barb wanted her husband, children, their spouses and me to be with her at the end. She told each of us what she loved about us and gave each of us a little advice. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

When it was my turn, she thanked me for my friendship and for being a good priest. Then she made me promise to have dinner with her husband later that month…a date we’d set much earlier, when we thought she’d be OK.  And then she insisted that I not change my plans for a vacation with my sister during the week of her funeral.     

How could she think about those things when she was only minutes away from dying? 

I/We were dumbstruck. Her focus was not on her death but on loving us. Jesus did that too. I hope I can die like that. What about you?  

*Barb was aware of the Church teaching on the discontinuation of ‘extraordinary means’ as described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph #2278.

                                                            Whose Child Are You?

On this All Saints Day, I remember Servant of God Augustus Tolton, whose burial site I visited last July.*  His parents were slaves in Missouri.  After the death of her husband, his mom escaped slavery with her children.  They ended up in Quincy Illinois.  Augustus became the first black priest in the USA.  It wasn't easy.  He suffered prejudice until the day he died. 

Today’s second reading is: 1 John 3:1-3.  Verse 1 is: “See what love the Father has…that we may be called children of God.”  What does it mean to be God’s child? 

Augustus took after his parents because he had the faith and spunk they had.  With those qualities he became a priest in the face of great odds.  But he was God’s child too. He inherited God’s quality of righteousness in the face of ongoing rejection. 

How do you take after your parents?  I look like my dad and I enjoy traveling as much as my dad did. And I have my mom’s tender heart and I’m also ‘careful with a dollar’.  (My friends sometimes call me ‘cheap’. Thanks mom!!J)

As God’s child, how do you take after God? I have a gift of creativity and sometimes I can read hearts too. I think those things come from God.

Take time to think about being both God’s child and your parents’ child.    

*see Previous Blog - Tuesday August 2, 2016