Pastor’s Column:

Fall is the time of year when most people begin to feel the start of life getting more and more hectic and busy.  It’s a time when you know the holidays are just around the corner.  Already, the stores are selling Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations.  In a week or two I’m sure I’ll see a Christmas tree arise in some store nearby.  The temptation is to already begin to stress over that which I need to get done before the big days ahead.  Certainly, we should plan, we should prepare. But if we should always live in the future we would forget to live today.

After all, we have all been given the gift of today and it may not be granted to us tomorrow.  The fall leaves remind us of this. Today, many of the leaves are shinning bright and beautiful in full stereo color while others have died prematurely and have fallen to the ground, never to arise in this life again.  Does this not happen every day? We arose today and have the opportunity to appreciate the beauty and goodness of life today, while others have been called away and did not arise today.

Fall is a great time to appreciate even more this beautiful world the Lord has given us.  The opportunities we have to live lives that shine forth with charity, love, kindness, and all the other virtues that makes a soul and a life radiate God’s Goodness.  In this way, we prepare best for the time when we will not arise in this world but in the world to come.  The world tempts us to focus so much on tomorrow we miss today, so much on preparations for future holidays that we forget present blessings.  Let us not miss the gift of today, given to us by God Our Father, that we may live it with purpose and allowing His light and grace to shine out in all we think, do, and say.  In this way the world becomes even more beautiful and we are made ready for the journey home whenever we are called.

Your Brother and Father in Christ,

Fr Scott