This past Monday, I made a day trip to St. Mary's in Altus, Arkansas to celebrate a Mass during which my cousin Brian and his wife, Michele, received the Sacrament of Marriage. Both before and after the Mass, I went to the parish cemetery to look for grave markers of "Elsers" who lived in the area, went to Church at St. Mary's, and raised their families in the Catholic faith there. I saw monuments marking the gravesite of both my great-grandfather and great-grandmother whom where dead before I was even born, but whom I got to know about through my grandmother (their daughter-in-law), when I used to visit her in Fort Smith. I also found the monuments where my great, great-grandparents are buried, and discovered that they died within two weeks of each other in December 1904. I can only wonder how difficult life was for them from the time they were born (1840) until the time they died. One constant in their lives was their faith in God, lived out in the Catholic Church as parishioners at St. Mary's. I found also the grave marker for my aunt, Mary Katherine, who died only three weeks after she was born in 1934. I look forward to meeting her as well as other family members of the past, some of whom I knew or knew of, and some that I know nothing about other than their names.
It is wonderful during this Easter Season to reaffirm and celebrate our belief not only in the Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord to heaven, but in the hope we have in our future lives with Him and all those judged worthy of a "dwelling place" in the Communion of Saints; which hopefully, will include many people who passed the faith down to succeeding generations and lived their faith in good times and in hard times as well. Sometimes I look at the future that my young great-neices and nephews will have to face, and wonder how they will get through it. I pray it is with faith in Jesus Christ and a loving, giving relationship with Him that is nurtured and strengthened by the faith of family and friends around them.
It is wonderful during this Easter Season to reaffirm and celebrate our belief not only in the Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord to heaven, but in the hope we have in our future lives with Him and all those judged worthy of a "dwelling place" in the Communion of Saints; which hopefully, will include many people who passed the faith down to succeeding generations and lived their faith in good times and in hard times as well. Sometimes I look at the future that my young great-neices and nephews will have to face, and wonder how they will get through it. I pray it is with faith in Jesus Christ and a loving, giving relationship with Him that is nurtured and strengthened by the faith of family and friends around them.