St. John Nepomucene

The Promise of a New Tomorrow
 

When we came to Mass the weekend of November 9^th & 10^th, our readings held out to us the promise of a new tomorrow.  As we approach Veteran’s Day, it is fitting that we recognize our veterans today.  To those who served in Military Services, thank you for your service!
 
When news reporter Marguerite Higgins was covering the Korean War, she received the Pulitzer Prize for her perceptive, sensitive stories.  On one occasion, she wrote about her time with the Fifth Company of Marines.  It was early one evening when the company had stopped the march to have dinner.  The men were experiencing bone-deep fatigue, anxiety, fear and death.  One Marine was leaning back against a truck, eating his cold meal from a tin can.  He had been in the field for many days and his clothes were stiff with dirt and he was cold.  His heavily bearded face, encrusted with mud, was almost expressionless.  One correspondent in the small group of reporters asked the soldier a strange and perhaps insensitive question.  “If I were God and could grant you anything you wished, what would you want most?”  The Marine stood motionless for a few moments.  Then he looked up at the reporter and said, “Just give me tomorrow.”
 
“Just give me tomorrow.”  It is a gift that God gives our loved one who have died; the gift of a new tomorrow to participate in the Resurrection.  It is a gift that God gives you, whatever your circumstances may be, the Gift of New Tomorrow.
 
During the Second World War, when Hitler conquered France, he immediately shut down the borders to keep the people from leaving the country.  But one small border town saw its population diminishing rapidly, so the Germans searched for the answer.
 

It’s a fascinating story.  This town had a cemetery that straddled the border with a neighboring country, which was free from Nazi control.  And so the local people opened up an ancient gate in the wall of the cemetery, and they kept having “funerals”.  Except the people attending those funerals, allegedly mourning their loved ones, never came back!  They went out to the tombs, but they just kept walking.  Right out the back gate to their freedom.

 
Your loved ones who have died are walking in freedom to those Pearly Gates.  You who mourn can also walk in freedom in the Hope of the Resurrection.  There is always the Hope of the New Tomorrow.
 
A popular song in the 60’s had these lines:
There will be a new tomorrow
There will be a brighter day
There will be a new tomorrow
Love will find the way.
 
Faith enables us to see both; our loved ones who have died and we who mourn may participate in the new tomorrow of the Resurrection.  Have Faith, with God’s Love you will find the Way.