Puffs

Memorial Day . . .

Started as an effort to recognize and honor those who died in the American Civil War, Memorial Day has grown to become one of the favorite holidays of the year.

It still is primarily intended to honor those who died in the service of their country. However, over the years, all military veterans have been included in the ceremonies of the day.

The day has also become a day for all citizens to recognize family and loved ones who have passed with the decoration of their graves and grave sites.

Our family has traveled on a number of occasions over Memorial Day and it seemed that any place we went all the cemeteries were clean and decorated.

The cemeteries around Lawrence and Nelson are among the best I’ve seen as well. At Sacred Heart cemetery near Lawrence, close to 50 people also attended Mass at the grave site of Msgr. Charles Becker to pray for all the deceased. They then joined the people who came for the American Legion’s Memorial Service to where there had to be close to a hundred people.

The American Legion, the Legion Auxiliary and the Sons of the American Legion all provided a moving tribute to the veterans of the area.

The holiday weekend also provided a perfect time for family gathering. There were many a family grouping held in many places.

A O

As you may have guessed over the years, I like to read “quotes” from any source that may apply to a current situation. Two of them came to mind last week:

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.

“Change is the only constant in the universe.”

Stay with me here.

I have no idea of where the two quotes came from and they seem sort of opposed to each other. But, they came to mind while I was reading one of the Mass readings from last week. It was in the “Acts of the Apostles” and could be considered about 2,000 years old.

As I understand the story, St. Paul was being accused by the Jews of teaching a false religion and were trying to do away with him. However, Paul wanted to be taken to Rome to spread the word of God and not be done away with where they were.

What was called the “Sanhedrin” (a Jewish governing body) contained Sadducees and some Pharisees. These two groups were different in their beliefs, which Paul knew. Paul made a point to show off that difference and the two groups got to fighting amongst themselves. The Roman commander got concerned about the safety of Paul and took Paul away and sent him to Rome. This was the desire of Paul all along.

Well . . . what the Mass reading reminded me of was today’s U. S. Congress. The Democrats and the Republicans are the opposite on so many ideas and programs. That difference was brought to mind by what happened all those 2,000 years ago.

I got to thinking that it would be great is someone with the wisdom of St. Paul would step forward today to accomplish what everyone wants: Peace, prosperity, justice and virtue. And not necessarily in that order.

I’ve heard, or read, that many people today, are confused, anxious, and angry about so many things in today’s world, that they just think things are so bad, there is no way the world can improve its situation.

Consider the world today and compare it to what St. Paul was living with in his time.

I’m not so sure there is a whole lot of difference . . . the more things change, the more they stay the same? Or, if change is the only things we can count on how come, the constant changes in these 2,000 years still put us in the same position we were in all those years ago.

The Republicans and the Democrats are not fighting over the same exact same ideas the Pharisees and Sadducees had differences with. However, the similarity is that each is fighting over what they call “right” or “wrong.”

There are so many differences: many liberal Democrats believe that it is OK to kill unborn children via abortions; many of them believe there are more than two genders, male and female; many think they are the only smart people in the world and they should write all the rules and regulations to govern everyone; etc.

Most republicans on the other hand know it isn’t right to kill unborn human beings; that there really are only two types of human beings, male or female; and know the best economic or society measures are those that let us operate with as few rules and regulations as possible.

I know that it is still a year and half until the next election, but just listen to the national news on TV and you might swear an election is going to take place tomorrow.

A O