October 29, 2021
Dear Friends,
Lately, I feel like every morning I wake up in the dark. While some of you may try to rationalize this statement and point out the obvious, it is not what I mean. Yes, I wake up and my room is dark. The sun has yet to rise, so obviously, I am going to wake up in the dark. I wake up in the dark because I do not know how my day is going to play out because I have not been gifted with any sort of fortune telling abilities or precognition. As I start my day, I prepare myself to embrace the challenges that I am going to face, big/small. I am ready for them.
The idea of darkness is something that I tend to touch on around Christmas and Easter. The notion of light against dark, good against evil. We know the themes. Books, movies, comics, everything tends to use the idea. The hero is trying to combat the forces of evil and we are cheering for them. We don’t normally sit down and cheer for Thanos, Voldemort or Darth Vader. No, we cheer the hero on. We want to be like that hero.
We want good to triumph over evil and it to be eradicated. At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, when Thanos “wins” the audible gasps still echo through my head. It was tough for us to see evil win. It is not how it should be. How is this any different in our own lives? What do we do when we see evil happening in the world? Are we background character 5, whose name is listed in the credits but is listed as man at bus stop or woman on street? Shouldn’t we be listed amongst the great heroes we are cheering on during these movies or books?
We need to remember that as we wake up each day in the darkness without any idea of what the day may bring. We have the opportunity to choose to be that light. While we may not have precognition, we can choose how to be light in the world not just for ourselves but for others. The opening of the video for our Diocesan Ministry Appeal (DMA) that was shared last week has a child singing, This Little Light of Mine. We know the song. We know that earworm, so apologies if you have started signing it in your head. This weekend, we are being called to be a light for someone else in our support of the DMA.
As we have mentioned in the bulletin, the DMA helps the diocese meet certain needs in our diocese beyond what the normal budget can handle. It supports Catholic Charities, inner-city schools, the care of our retired priests and seminarian education. If we go beyond the annual goal, our parish will see 50% of those funds for our own needs. This weekend we have our in-pew process, you are all familiar with that. You can also give online, just remember to pick St. Matthew’s as your parish: www.2021appeal.org.
Be the Light for someone in need this week.
Fr. Brian