First, I want to thank you for your generosity to Partners in Charity. We are well on the way to making our goal. Many have still not had the opportunity to make their gift but we hope you will do so, by making a gift today. Pledge envelopes are, once again, available in each pew, as are golf pencils. Once completed, please place them in the collection basket.
Congress continues to debate health care reform. While the House passed a health care bill that prevents the federal government from funding elective abortions, and includes provisions making health care affordable and accessible for all, the Senate rejected this and passed a bill that requires federal funds to help subsidize and promote health plans that cover elective abortions, while forcing purchasers to pay directly for other people’s abortions. Congressional leaders are now trying to figure out how the rules of the House and Senate could allow the final passage of a modified bill that would satisfy disagreements between House and Senate versions. Final votes may take place as early as this weekend. The U.S. bishops continue to strongly oppose abortion funding, and call for critical improvements in conscience protection, affordability for the poor and vulnerable, and access to health care for immigrants.
In your bulletin today, you’ll find an insert from the U.S. Bishops Conference asking you to please contact your congressional representatives immediately and urge them to address these moral issues. The flier/bulletin insert includes a web address that allows you to send an email message to Congress with a click of a button. The bishops have asked for our swift action and our prayers. Thank you for your help. We can help make sure that health care reform will protect the lives, dignity, conscience and health of all. Health care reform should be about saving lives, not destroying them.
As you have heard, my homily this weekend is an invitation to take part fully in the last days of Lent and the Sacred Paschal Triduum. We live in a society which has become so good at denying reality, especially the reality of death.
We sometimes have reminders: the sudden death of a close friend or relative, rumors of a pandemic like H1N1, the feeling you get as you walk from the nursing home to your car, or the latest twinge of late middle age that heralds what is soon to come.
Each reminder of death is a gift from God, for it reminds us of how few days we have to accomplish what God has given us to do: to love, to forgive, to heal, to sacrifice, and to learn to be like Jesus. The greatest gift we can receive is to learn what life is about and to use each minute he gives us to do his will! That is where true happiness lies.
In the course of writing my homily, I went back to visit some old friends: the epitaphs which are such a testament to the wit and wisdom of our New England forebears. There’s one I just couldn’t work into my homily, but it’s one of my favorites, so I use it to close this week’s column.
Here lies a poor Atheist.
All dressed up,
and NO PLACE to go!
In the Lord,
Monsignor James P. Moroney
