marathon

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Katherine Drexel, who lived 97 years. I am aslo celebrating a funeral for a lady in the Parish who lived 99 years.

The gospel I will be using for today's funeral is one that is striking considering the circumstances. This lady did not die suddenly. This lady was not sick. She enjoyed a long life, well lived in service to her family and her friends and her Lord for the most part.

The gospel comes from Luke 12, "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigiliant on his arrival. Amen I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, an dproceed to wait on them, And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants."

Think about that for a moment. It is easy being ready in the first watch while the zeal is fresh and the devotion is warm and the love is burning.

Even in the second watch, after some years of service, there seems to be anticipation of the arrival of God, the call to come home.

But it is harder the longer we live. The thrid watch can be excruciating. Having lived a long life, we encounter many changes, many obstacles, many reasons to no longer trust, no longer believe, no longer wait attentively.

Sometimes too much time is altogether too much.

It is easier to be faithful for a brief moment, it is much more demanding to be faithful for the long haul, to wake each morning, consecutive morningings for 97 or 99 years and keep the mind attentive and focused on the will of God and service to Him and our fellow man.

Practice certainly makes better but repetition can be tiresome.

This is what makes today's feast in celebration of St. Ketherine Drexel and her faithfulness of 97 years and today's funeral liturgy for the lady of 99 years so inspiring for us all.

They teach us the importance to be in it for the long haul, to pace ourselves. The race of faith is not a hundred yard dash rather it is a marathon where we find our stride and push on beyond the wall of ache and pain to Jesus who perfects our faith in time, through time, for a time into eternity.

Just something ponder today as you continue to run the race.

In the face of many changes these two ladies did not chnage in their faithfulness to God. Truly this is heroic.