Words on the Way to Sunday . . .

One day more!
And I have had some of my priest friends, neighbors here at Senior Clergy Village telling me things like, "I don't envy what you have to do." "I wouldn't want to have to face that."
And more importantly, "I'm praying for you."
And yes, I have asked for those prayers. For weeks now I have been asking for those prayers.
Even now I ask you, whoever you are, reading this right now, I ask you for your prayers.
Tomorrow I will once again lead the People of God in that great Act of Eucharist.
I have done this so many, many times over these years.
I have done so in good times and in bad, and as those familiar vows spoken at weddings go, in sickness and in health.
Through all sorts of times - moments of joy and jubilation - all those weddings and all those First Communions and so many graduations and welcoming of new life and Easter Vigils and Midnight Masses - I have stood at the altar table and led the People of God and declared, "Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God."
And in those bad times too, those times of loss and suffering and sorrow -all those moments of dealing with death and loss and grief and parting  and even, thinking of those tragic moments, that evening of September 11, 2001. In all those tear filled moments I have stood at the altar table and led the People of God and declared, "Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God!"
And tomorrow once again the People of God will gather.
And they will bring their memories and sometimes those memories will cause a burst of a smile and sometimes those memories will bring a tear to be shed.
They will come.
And again they will hear that invitation, that summons which calls us to be a People of Faith, "Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God!"
What I have to do, we have to do.
What I have to face, we have to face.
Together we are a people who know the importance of giving thanks to the Lord, our God.
In those good times and bad, in those moments of weakness as well as strength, we give thanks to the Lord, our God.
We give thanks because we know  . . .
We know that we have been blessed.
We have, indeed, been blessed by those self-giving women who taught us and nurtured us and sustained us and equipped us for life, who prayed with us as they prayed for us and who helped us to discover the most important part of our everyday lives.
God is with us.
God does love us.
We have been blessed.
And we will continue to be blessed.
Because a core of them will remain to minister and care for and bring an awareness of the Presence of God to places like Lourdes in Waterford.
And we will continue to be blessed because we have learned well the lessons which they taught.
And we will continue to be blessed as long as we continue to live by what we have learned from them.
And we will be continue to be blessed as they lead us still from wherever they may be in working to build a more peace-filled world.
We have been blessed.
And we are blessed.
And we will continue to be blessed.
Buildings may be repurposed.
But the Dominican Sisters of Peace continue.
And so we truly are blessed.
So "Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God!"
And don't pity what I do tomorrow.
Join me in that great act of thanksgiving.
Let us do Eucharist.
Eucharist is what we should do.
Eucharist is what we should be.
It is right and just!
Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God!


MORE IS STILL COMING . . . NEXT WEEK I WILL LET YOU IN ON THE HOMILY EMERGING FROM MATTHEW 5: 17 - 37. That starts on Monday.

MEANTIME - For anyone planning on taking part in the Closing Mass,
                        remember, it begins at 2:00 PM rather than the usual time for a Sunday!