I love this time of year as fall arrives and the days get shorter and become cooler, and the nights become longer and colder. The darkness brings its own rewards and the earth starts the process of renewal for another growing season in the spring. At the same time the liturgical year comes to an end and the readings at Mass bring a focus to the end times and our final destiny of heaven—as a reminder to rejuvenate our spirits too. As the Sunday gospel reading says, “we never know the day or the hour.”
That seems so true for me. We just never know the day the Lord will call us home and we always need to live with that in mind. There is a fine balance of living life at full pace and living life with the end in mind. So how do we find the balance? We need to reflect carefully and prayerfully on the reality of life itself. Treasure the gift of life now.
I recently finished a book called, “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman. The title comes from how many total weeks we have in our lifetime, and he questions how we want to spend them. He was a renowned time-management guru who fundamentally gave up on “managing time” and came up with a new approach on how to embrace life now, be less focused on getting everything done, and more focused on valuing the goodness of life. He advocates living a meaningful life, embracing the value of family and friends. Great advice for all of us regular human beings and maybe even more for us who are striving to be Christian disciples. Focus on family and friends!
Two years ago, at this time, my closest brother Paul and my spiritual director, Fr. Dave both died from pancreatic cancer. In the ensuing months, I also lost a number of other close friends and then, my friend Bishop PJ this past year. It is so hard; but the reality is that someone, somewhere is always sick, suffering, and maybe even dying. Sickness and death touch us all, as they are a part of life.
But we believe that death is not the end of life but rather a transition to eternal life. Maybe it comes sooner than we would like but it comes to all of us eventually. The readings at Mass this weekend remind us that our belief is in Christ crucified and risen. Where he went, we too shall follow! We will be resurrected from the dead—that is the core of faith. It is good to focus on that message every now and then, to sharpen our own focus too—to keep the end in mind. Just like the wise virgins in the gospel this weekend, we want to be best prepared for the Lord’s coming and be as ready as we can be.
It seems particularly apt that in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving at the end of the month as I believe that is a great place to start the preparation process for the coming season. Take some time to reflect on the people around us and be grateful for their presence in our lives. But even more so, make sure we tell them how important they are to us.
I often advise people who are actively dying to write a letter to their loved ones and tell down how much they mean to them. It is so powerful when they are able to do so, as the family left behind can read and re-read those letters for years to come. I wonder if we shouldn’t try to write those letters now and give to each other. Why wait till our dying moments to tell them how much they mean to us?
Whatever you decide, let’s make sure we are well prepared for the Lord’s coming by being grateful for all of the goodness in our lives, especially those closest to us and tell them in writing or in person.
Speaking of gratitude, I want to express our thanks to all our seniors. We had a luncheon for them on Tuesday and they are all wonderful to chat with. I love their stories. One of the gifts of last weekend’s retreat and that senior luncheon, was that I got to hear so many parishioners’ stories at mealtimes. I was surprised to learn that so many of you are veterans. You are all so humble. As we celebrate Veteran’s Day, I want to also express my gratitude to all the veterans in our community. Thank you for your years of service to our country and freedom. May God bless you for your generosity and reward you with good memories and fellowship. At all Masses this weekend we will offer a blessing to our veterans. So please encourage our veterans to come to church or offer to drive them if they are not generally able to get here themselves.
God bless,
Fr. Brendan