Let's Grieve

At the end of our days, most of us share the fear of the unknown.  But to be trapped in a car, waiting for the flames to engulf you, and perhaps, your loved ones – it is too much to consider.  Yet and still, we go there because when the smoke clears, we recognize that we’re all one under the sun.  We suffer when other suffer; we grieve when others grieve.  We are all from the earth, ashes to ashes, dusts to dust.   May the dead rest in peace – and the living be ever mindful that whatever divides us, it, too, shall pass.”

These were the words written by columnist Kathleen Parker in Friday’s Cape Cod Times.  She wrote about the “Camp Fire” in northern California and the “Woolsey Fire” in Malibu.

We are near the end of our liturgical year, so we face the end times, so to speak.  It’s a good time to reflect and remember that we are all one under the sun.  We do grieve for other people, including those we don’t know, especially when television brings their suffering to our attention in vivid ways.

Let’s consider the immigrants on our southern boundary especially mothers separated from their children.  Let’s consider all the hurricane victims and all those having experienced loss of loved ones and their property due to the fires.  Let’s consider all the victims of armed conflicts fueled by U.S. sales of advanced weaponry.   Let’s grieve.  There are many reasons to do so.

Deacon David Pierce