May 17, 2003
Dear Friends in Christ,
Whenever we celebrate a Mass for the dead, whenever we remember those friends who have already left us, it is a natural consequence that we consider also, then impermanence of our own lives. And this is, though sometimes frightening, a very healthy thing - for our minds, our hearts, and our souls.
For Christ our lord, many times in the Gospel reminds us, that we are not meant for this world, as we see it. The world that God created in which to place mankind, was a very different place from the world we live in. Perhaps the sky and the sun and the moon and the stars looks the same - perhaps most of the life with which God filled His creation is still here, and the wind still sings, and the storms still come out of nowhere with their awesome power, and the same clam beauty follows in their wake. But one very great ting is different. When God gave this world to Adam and Eve, He meant that they should dwell in it with no fear, with no effort, and with no end to their lives. That is the world God meant for them - and the world He meant for us. But because of sin, death comes to us now. It is a reality that we must face, and part of that reality is captured by our Mass today - a Mass for remembering those who have gone before - and for thinking deeply upon the truth, that we will not be here long, and that if we are worthy, our eternity is to be spent somewhere else.
But if God's design was fatally damaged, and is damaged by the sins we commit, His love is yet so great for us, that He has given us a way to know, to see, to believe that we can live forever, if we give our hearts and souls back to Him. He shoes us this, in the life of Jesus Christ - in His words which fill us with hope, and in His deeds, which turn our hope into Faith. We build faith, by acting on the promises of God, and on the commands of Jesus Christ. And that faith comforts us with many consolations.
Today, the consolation is in our remembrance. We remember the Knights who have passed for many reasons - for the friendship of the ones we knew, for the solidarity we share with them all, and especially, for the good works which they began, and which we continue. The one hundred and one years of the Knights of Columbus in Georgia are not distinct, isolated life spans. They are one life in the Holy Spirit, flowing from generation to generation, and inhabiting each and every one of us. And we will turn that life over to those who follow. And the work of the Knights will go on. So when we remember those Knights who have preceded us in death and in eternal life, we are not remembering something that has been finished - rather, we are celebrating something that goes on - something that lives in them in Heaven, something that lives in us on earth, and something that lives in the mind of God alone, as the future unfolds according to His plan.
And so, dear friends, as we remember this morning, the souls of the dead, and as we think upon our own lives, and what we are doing to help this world prepare for its future, let us never forget the context of eternity in which we abide, thanks to the love of God, which comes to us in Jesus Christ. And remembering this, let us live with those sentiments in our hearts, which we have heard so beautifully expressed in this morning's first reading:
The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness. My portion is the Lord, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
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