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Deacon’s Beacon: We Remember

We Remember

The lazy, crazy days of Summer are over. Vacations, parties, and many other celebrations are behind us. For many of us we return to our more normal “routine.” But “life” and our lives continue to move. Forward, backward, left or right – there is always movement.

I think it’s good to pause, look at where we are, think on how we got here, and then, charge into our future. This process starts with some quiet time, reflecting on the word of God and what it means to us.

Last Sunday the message focused on the fact that God’s mercy is available to everyone. We heard the story of Zacchaeus climbing a tree to see Jesus. When Jesus approaches that point He stops and tells Zacchaeus that He would go to his house. Zacchaeus was a despised person who accumulated his vast wealth by cheating the Jewish community. Zacchaeus repents and tells Jesus that he would give the majority of his wealth to the poor. Jesus tells him that salvation has come to his house.

In today’s gospel we hear about the Sadducees who are trying to “trap” Jesus by asking that, as in life we are united as husband and wife, who are we united with in the next life? (The Sadducees did not believe in a life after death.) Jesus explains that we will not have an earthly body that would deteriorate, but rather we are children of God – we are like angels, we will not be governed by earthly rules.

Jesus’ message in these and many other readings is that if we repent, we will be forgiven. And we continue to have days to remember and think about our future. In this past week we have celebrated All Saints Day and All Souls Day – these were days to remember those who have gone before us and are united with God; and to pray for the souls in purgatory. And of course, we had Halloween, a secular reminder of our mortality. Halloween is a “scary time” when we are faced with our fears – the dead, the spiders and snakes, and “spookiness” and gross things.

Fear is a universal emotional reaction to something that seems dangerous. But, as we know, God is the answer to our fears. What we need to do is –

Pray, Repent, and do Good Works.

Pray – Recently I participated in the OLW Respect Life 40 Hour Perpetual Adoration devotion. During that time I reflected on how this devotion relates to the time from Jesus’ death on the cross until His resurrection on that first Easter Sunday morning.

Repent – This is a combination of confession and understanding what changes we need to make in our life.

Do Good Works – As Jesus says, “The poor you will always have with you.” The issue is – what do we do to help the poor, the needy, and the suffering that we encounter?
During the 40 Hours Adoration, I thought of the ministries that Irene and I have been involved with: St. Mark’s Food Pantry – this has been active for close to 30 years; The P.A.D.S. ministry for the homeless; the Christian Family Movement (CFM); Respect Life, and the Knights of Columbus, to name a few. Irene has been a Eucharistic Minister and a Lector, in addition to other ministries.

We are Thankful

Soon we will be celebrating Thanksgiving – a time to gather with family and friends. All of us have received many blessings from God. God, in turn, expects us to reach out and help the less fortunate in our world.

When our time on earth is done, money or material things will not matter, but the love, time and kindness that we have given to others will shine and live on forever.

What will we pass on to the next generation?

As President John Kennedy said early in his presidency, “The torch has been passed to a new generation.” The people of that generation accepted the challenge and worked to make the world a better place by getting involved in volunteer groups of all kinds. As I have said There are plenty of people who need help – especially in these very difficult times.

Pope Francis recently said, “We have a great opportunity to teach the people of our time to regard others with the same understanding and loving gaze with which we regard our own grandchildren.”

For questions or additional information, contact: Deacon Tom Corcoran at irenetomc@hotmail.com.