For the sixty years that I have been a priest, it seems that every year Ash Wednesday and Lent held out different challenges and called for a creative response. This year, as I thought about the significance of the ashes on Ash Wednesday, I focused on the words of Deuteronomy that are proclaimed on the First Sunday of Lent, "Then you shall declare before the Lord your God, 'My father was a wandering Arimean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. But there he became a 
nation, great, strong and numerous.'" This made me think of a sign that I see every time I go to Los Chavez to visit my brother Mickey and his wife, Lenore, or my brother Frank and his wife, Alice. It says, "Soon your life will be over." At that time it didn't make much sense because when I visit them I always get a great meal and a heartfelt visit, so I see it as a time for living and enjoying life. But of course, I live in the reality that I am already 85 years old and most of my classmates have already passed on from this life.
Have you reviewed your life lately? The quotation from Deuteronomy challenged my memory and I started to think about my life since I was born in Five Points. Often I have read articles on the Roaring Twenties and now I realize that I lived through five years of them without even realizing it. There was nothing roaring about them as we lived our quiet, enjoyable life on our little farm. Then I realized I lived throughout the Great Depression, and it is only retrospect that I realize the suffering of so many people at that time. I don't know how my parents did it, but we never lacked any of the essentials of life. Actually, I remember living a happy life throughout those years; I remember saying my morning and evening prayers and joining the family rosary before bedtime. On Saturday, along with my brothers Joe and Pat, I walked to Sacred Heart Church for confession; and on Sunday, we all went to Mass. Of course, during Lent, we had another exciting adventure: we would go to the Stations every Friday and on weekdays, my dad woke us up early and we attended the 6 a.m. Mass at Sacred Heart Church. We would return home, do our chores and then we were off to school. I attended parochial school the first six years, then I went to public school for two years. I attended St. Mary's High School for two years before going to the seminary at age 15, and spent the next nine years there. As I look back now I realize the reality of that sign, "Soon your life will be over."
For me, my life has been a great adventure, not too exciting, but exciting enough for me. This morning I went to Rio Rancho to visit my friend, Mary Marsic, who God willing, will be 103 May 12. I had a long visit with her and it made me realize how important friends have been in my life. As I enjoyed my family in my childhood, and still do, I now enjoy the memory of great friendships that have been a very important part of my life. I feel that all my life I have been very blessed. I find the words of the Responsorial Psalm for Sunday very meaningful and I believe that they could be addressed to each and every one of us. "You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.'"
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