Our pastor had this message in our Church bulletin and we’d like to share it with our readers. Also we would like to wish you all a Holy and a happy Thanksgiving....
As autumn leaves signal the end of another season and the approach of Winter, the Church, on this Sunday, every November invites us to pause momentarily for serious thoughts. It directs our attention to the end of the world, the last judgment, and the Lord's coming in glory. Every age has its share of false prophets, predicting gloom and calamity, so we may not take easily to such a message. It is apt to release, within our minds, great surges of fear about punishment, destruction, and death. Yet the Holy Scripture is not meant to frighten or threaten but to give consolation, hope, and encouragement in life's difficulties. The great truth of the Gospel is that God's love has triumphed over evil and will put things right. God is on our side and will see us through our present troubles. Our readings this Sunday aim to focus our minds on the over-all view of life's purpose so as to encourage us to live on a more spiritual level. We are on earthly pilgrimage and have within us a deep seated longing for a better world. At journey's end, we are hoping for an everlasting happiness, for a bright dawn to emerge out of our present darkness. What is more important to remember is that our own death spells the end of our particular world. At that moment, life's mission is accomplished and we go forward to meet the Lord face to face. It may happen at any time and we have to be prepared for the encounter. While we can not avoid death, we can take steps against unprepared death, living each day carefully as if it is our last and by keeping God ever in our sights. HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone! May God bless your family as you gather this week... Fr. Burt
