3:35 p.m.
Every year on my birthday, my mom made sure that, wherever
she was and wherever I was, she connected with me at the actual
time that I was born — 3:35 p.m. If I was in her company,
she matched her best wishes with a tender kiss. If I was away,
either near or far, she would call by phone. I was ready for
the call. I awaited the call. I cherished the call. Those
calls stopped with her death in 2006.
Given my appreciation for tradition, after her death I decided
to return the favor to her. I now connect with her in prayer
at the exact time of my birth — 3:35 p.m. — also
the anniversary of her becoming a mother. This year, I did
so by being with her at the Christ Our Savior Mausoleum, where
she is interred in Pine Township. There, at 3:35 p.m., I thanked
God for her. There, I thanked her for giving birth to me some
59 years ago. There, I thanked her for all the times in the
past in which she connected with me by either a kiss or a
call.
The in-between times
In her birthday greetings over the years, and in every way
every day of her life as a mother, my mom knew and lived the
meaning of what it means to be “pro-life.” She
knew that the very definition of mother does not leave any
room for life to be disposable nor dispensable.
These days, lots of folks would like to confuse issues of
life — when it begins, when it ends — and its
absolute value in between.
Thank God we can turn to another mother, our mother the church,
who teaches us that life begins at the moment of conception
and not even a second later, and that life comes to an end
according to God’s plan and not anyone else’s
plan.
The church, our mother, also teaches us that all the in-between
times of a person’s life — in between conception
and death — is also a time where every person is to
be respected as a daughter or son of God, created in his image
and likeness. A respect for life in God’s eyes is due
every person regardless of her or his intelligence, color,
nationality, economy, religion and a whole host of other qualities
that define and design the litany of characteristics that
make each person who each person is and always along the continuum
of each breath of life.
The graduation speaker at my godson’s commencement
exercises confirmed this truth when she said: “Whenever
we die, two dates will be noted. One, the date of our birth;
the other, the date of our death. But what God will judge
us on is what we did with the ‘dash’ in between.
So sacred is that time and all life in God’s eye.”
What is at stake is that we use that in-between time to improve
and grow the quality of life most especially for anyone whom
society has placed on the fringes of society — the poor,
the unemployed, the imprisoned, the immigrants, etc.
Be not dissuaded
My recent birthday and memories of my mom’s sacred
observance of the exact time of my birth — 3:35 p.m.
— prompted me to share these random thoughts on life
with you.
There will be many who, in the days, weeks and months ahead,
will try to confuse others about life issues. Be not confused
about the truth; be not dissuaded away from the truth.
In his monumental work, titled “The Gospel of Life,”
our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul the Great, hailed the
truth about life when he attached to it the word, “gospel.”
The word “gospel” means “good news,”
“God’s good news.”
Imagine! We — you and I — are “good news.”
Imagine! God thought enough of us to bring us into being,
in his image and in his likeness.
Imagine! God loved us into being through those who mother
us and father us.
Imagine! God, in the specific moment of our conception, began
the eternal journey that he desperately hopes will find us
coming back to him in heaven.
No need to imagine! It’s all true! We are all “Good
News,” living signs of “The Gospel of Life”
of, by and from God. Now more than ever, we need to live and
be and proclaim that Good News, the Gospel of Life, to our
country and to our world, who need to know it.
And how well we embrace the “Good News” and proclaim
the Gospel of Life will make all the difference in the world
and beyond.
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