Thirty-Third Sunday Ordinary Time

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
and the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch (Mal 3:19)

This is the kind of reading that brings back memories of growing up in the South. I would sneak off to summer tent revivals and listen to the pastors preach up a holy firestorm of hell and damnation. There was such passion, rhythm, and vitality – it almost as though they were the Sirens to my Ulysses. It was a preaching that left no doubt that the end was near, to get right with God, and to make amends.

The end is coming. The end of time, we know not when, but the end of the Liturgical Year is upon us when the readings are ever more apocalyptic to remind us that we are a people ever called to “get right with God and to make amends.” And no doubt that is another thing added to our perpetually growing list of things to do. We are a people who are beset with things to do.  Good, holy and true things. We continually run the checklist of things to do, to get ready. Think of what it takes to prepare, organize and get a household of young children off to Sunday Mass. And then we try and be present at Mass even as we have another list processing in background of all the things we have to do before the end of the weekend.

All this thinking of the end reminded me of something I saw several years ago on a Saturday afternoon college football roundup show. It was Coach Lou Holtz and Mark May doing their usual banter. Coach Holtz was talking about his bucket list – that list of things to do before he passed from this earth. He was very excited as he had just completed item #2 on the list – to cruise on a nuclear submarine.  (He is very excited and I am thinking big deal having spent years serving aboard nuclear subs).   The other items on his list were places to go, things to do, and the such. It was similar to the list items we discussed among the Bible Study on Tuesday evening – places to visit, mountains to climb, skydiving, and all sorts of things.

About the same time, I saw an HBO documentary: “Last Letters Home: Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq.”  The show featured letters written by soldiers to their families – written as it were, in the end of days. Some were letters to be opened “just in case.” Some were just part of a regular series of letters that happened to be the last letter. It reminded me of the Ken Burn’s documentary, The Civil War, in which so much of the narrative is told via letters from the battlefield.

Many of the letters contained insights when soldiers discovered within them a depth of love and gratitude heretofore unknown. What is remarkable about the individual letters, or the series of letters, is the increasing depth of their thoughts – the revelation of the beauty of the inner temple built by God’s grace. These letters expressed the soldiers’ love of family members, love of God, and their hope for healing and redemption.  In the midst of war, nation rising against nation, and among all their struggles, as the gospel says, I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking .  Their letters speak of that Spirit-given wisdom. It was their bucket list. And it is a list – not of what they wanted to do, see or enjoy – but a list, an expression of what they wanted to be, to become.

I was privileged to meet Ed Dils of Parkersburg, WVa. He was the father-in-law of my business partner. In Christmas 1944, Ed, was with the US Army on the front line of the Battle of the Bulge. It was a critical juncture in the war when the entire strength of the German army was amassed against a thin and thinning US frontline. Without the aid of the US Army Air Corp because of the weather, the onslaught of German tanks and artillery were frightful. Shells burst through the forest, exploding and raining down shrapnel, burning branches and logs, and death. Surely the end was near. Like the soldiers of every war, this moment brought Ed Dils to the depth of his being. There on the battlefield of the Belgian forestland, Ed wrote his bucket list.

1. To be more tolerant, but at the same time more firm in my convictions of right & wrong.
2. To do all in my power to hold fast my belief in the God-given goodness of human nature.
3. To keep aglow my faith in the future, the hope for a brighter tomorrow … even when all may seem hopeless
4. To be ever mindful of my many blessings – helping others to see theirs.
5. To be neighbor and to love my neighbor no matter how difficult at times it may be.
6. To be ever grateful for my family and my wife.
7. To accept cheerfully and willingly the hard things that come, but not to assume a passive attitude and maintain my drive to bring about the good and worthwhile.
8. To realize faults and human frailty in myself and others, but to try to respond with helpful compassion
9. To be proud of my accomplishments, yet humble in my thoughts and beliefs.
10. To keep myself physically, morally, and spiritually worthy
11. To integrate into my being – “All things happen for good to those who love GOD.”

Ed carried that list in his pocket every day of his life for the next 65 years until his death in 2010.  The list gave evidence of having being opened and unfolded many times, its edges and creases worn, frayed and torn in places. Clearly he consulted his list of who he wanted to be, to become. And although he likely never checked off a single item in his own mind, he fulfilled his bucket list before the end of his life. He became a beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He quietly went about his life, spreading hope, love, compassion, and joy. If you needed help in life, everyone knew you could go to see Ed Dils.  And everyone went to Ed Dils.

He was humble, tolerant, hopeful, mindful, grateful, aglow with faith, and held that what he was before God, he was that and no more. By the grace of God, he became a saint in his own time.

He prepared for life, the end of life and the life to come. Not by doing, but by being aware of who he was, what he was becoming, and who God was calling him to be.

In the midst of our busy lives and complicated lives, with our to-do lists and the wonderment of how it will ever get done, the end times are indeed coming. These last days are upon us… So.. what is on your bucket list?

May the grace of God lead you to know who you are, what you are becoming, and give you to the wisdom to know who God is calling you to be.