Sunday, October 5, 2025 – The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reflections From The Rectory Patio Number 4: (Hey, I can’t help it. The weather has been great!) Once again, I spent part of a Friday evening on the patio as Purcell Marian played another home football game. The excitement and school spirit continued to be present, but it was a special game—it was their Homecoming Game. I am assuming that past alumni were in the stands enjoying the game and reliving their experiences of attending Cavalier football games and other school events.
Homecomings and class reunions, they can be fun times. Times when you are united once again with friends, former classmates and teachers of your youth. The memorable highlights of these gatherings are the stories—and what stories! They are as plentiful as a pro football team’s buffet table. “Do you remember when we snuck X into the school?” “Do you remember when we fooled Mr. X into believing that X was happening and he believed it.” “Do you remember the party at X’s home when X happened?”
On the other hand, there are stories of successful lives and careers. Stories of families flourishing and doing well. Stories of classmates who you thought were headed to doom and were surprised with their turnaround and successful lives you thought impossible. And those memories of those who have gone to glory and are dearly missed.
I would like to suggest that homecomings and reunions contain stories of God and of grace. They are stories of lives where the action of God is very evident. They are ones of how lives have been lifted up. They contain stories of people who achieved great accomplishments and those who took dangerous chances and made great things happen. They contain stories of how our world is a better place now than on graduation day.
If you have a reunion coming up, please attend it and hear these stories. If one is not in the near future, take some time to reflect on your life from your adolescent years and evaluate all you have accomplished and how God has worked through your life. Also, take into account the lives of those you know (past classmates) and consider their life stories. The stories of God’s grace will come forth. They all offer the evidence that God is at work in our world and this should increase our hope for the future and inspire us to positively move forward.