After all the chaos of the last ten months it is time to look at something different. It is different because there is nothing we can do about it. When I was looking at how to organize Holy Masses for Christmas something came to my mind.
Some seats will not be filled ever again. There will be empty chairs left just to remind us of that time when someone was taken from our community, from our family, from our parish. We will not see them anymore. Slowly we will forget their voices. And then will come the worst. We fill forget their faces.
I remember my parents looking at albums with the old black and white pictures. I had no idea who those people were in them but my parents had memories of them. They remembered the time when they enjoyed life together.
The same will happen to us. One day we will look at the pictures of people that only we know. We will recall laughter and joy from the past. Our memory will bring victory and failure from the past. It will go until one day one more seat will be empty, our seat. All our worries, anger and joy, frustrations and happiness will be over. Somebody will cut our credit card in half, will close the bank account, will give our clothes to Goodwill.
Sometimes I think this entire COVID situation happened to help us to see what really matters in our life. We will elect a new president in a few years again, another group will fight for rights, somebody will make a career, somebody will lose a job. But all of those things can be changed, improved.
Unfortunately, we cannot get back time that we missed, we cannot get back people that left this world. If today you would have to put a table with chairs for all your loved ones, how many empty seats would be there? So, do not waste your time on things that do not matter. Do not waste your time on chasing surreal dreams to satisfy yourself. Use the time you have to be there for those who are around you because one day only empty chairs will be left.