A serious matter

When you make a commitment to yourself to write  a blog you sometimes find it difficult to keep that commitment.  I have been experiencing that difficulty lately.  At the beginning of September I started a new apostolate as a part-time pastoral assistant in one of our Diocesan parishes (two parishes that have been merged into one).  I am just now catching my breath.  It seems as if September and October are busy months in parishes!

Also, I would like to share with you another experience I had since I last wrote here.  Some years ago our Sisters had a pre-school and my job was to meet with the parents and register the children.  One day this young mother came by with her three-year old little boy.  He was very little!  She said to me with much anxiety, “do you think he is too little?”  I agreed he was small but he was 3 and I said, let’s give it a try.  Well this little mite did very well and he went on to persevere through our kindergarten and then on to the parish school.  He graduated from there and from the local Catholic high school.  He was a wonderful young man – very gifted, very funny and apparently loved by many, many of his friends and of course by his family.  Some weeks ago we received a telephone call:  our little three-year-old, now 20 had taken his own life!  I personally felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach.  No, I said, this can’t be!  We went through the wake, holding his sobbing mother and trying to console her.  We took part in the funeral in a church that was filled to over-flowing.  Why, we asked?  Many of his friends and classmates – our former students – and their moms and dads were there and we grieved together. 

Our Sisters have asked one another, “what is happening with our young people these days?’”  Pope Francis is terribly concerned about them as he said so in a recent homily.  They can’t seem to believe in a future and they are being robbed by our culture of any hope.  We have to do something!!  I am a Sister of Jesus Our Hope and therein lies the answer.  Jesus is our hope.  The “something” we must do is help our young people come to know Him, to be able to depend on Him, to know that He is there for them, that he loves them and that He is their future.   And we must pray, like we have never prayed before.  So many parents today are ignoring God and not bringing their children to Church, to Mass.  We are letting the children wide open for disappointment and for despair.  Part of the New Evangelization in the Church is to share our faith, to open our mouths and tell people about God, to witness to our own belief and trust in Him.  Let’s not ignore our kids, let’s not criticize them or write them off.  God, save your children!   God help and save us!