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Deacon’s Beacon: Respect Life, The Beatitudes, Feast of All Saints

Respect Life

Respect Life Month (October) is over.  But that does not end our focus on the dignity of the life all people receive from God.  Rather, it serves as a starting point for the decisions we will make in the rest of our life.  Our respect for all life needs to constantly grow in all aspects of our life.

The respect for life is about more than anti-abortion.  That is a very significant part of the message, but the respect is meant to continue in all areas of human interaction throughout our life.  That’s the message we hear in today’s gospel.

Sermon on the Mount

In today’s gospel (commonly referred to as “The Sermon on the Mount”) Jesus gives us practical guidance on how, with God’s grace, we can live our life and be faithful to the gospel message.  At first, Jesus’ words seem almost impossible ideals, livable only by perfect people.  But Jesus gives us practical guidance on how, with God’s grace, we can live and be faithful to the gospel.

In Matthew’s gospel, the Sermon on the Mount is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  He goes up the mountain with his disciples and preaches on the basic principles of how God expects us to interact with others.  Jesus tells the disciples what God expects of them. The Beatitudes teach us the final end to which God calls us – union with God in heaven – and they bring us, face to face, with our decisions.  They make us think of the life choices we pursue on earth and how we use God’s gifts to each of us.

The message calls us to belief – and action.  Jesus has no hands on earth but ours.  How can we become saints?

The Feast of All Saints

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints.  Most of us have our favorite saint – someone who we will ask to pray to God for us.  For many that might be our patron saint – The name we received at Baptism.

We tend to think of “Saints” who have been officially “canonized.”  (A process through which the Church recognizes people who have made extraordinary efforts in their life – such as St. Francis or St. Ignatius.) However, there are untold millions of other “saints” who are united with God through living life as outlined in the beatitudes.  The question is – how do we do it?

We live that message thru our Faith and Ministries

OLW offers many opportunities to help other who have special needs: Sharing with the St. Mark’s community; Support for the homeless in the area through P.A.D.S.; Knights of Columbus; and St. Vincent DePaul – to name a few.  As a result of the Covid-19 virus, many of these have been put on hold.  The status will be discussed in a future article.

Mother Theresa said
“A life not lived for others is not a life.”

Thank you and God Bless!
Deacon Tom Corcoran

“You are the light of the world.  Do not light a lamp then put it under a bushel basket…. your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Heavenly Father.”  Matthew 5:5-16

Please send your comments to: irenetomc@hotmail.com