The Marks Post: A time to heal

It seems wherever you look in the world there is great sadness. This is especially true for our nation today which has a fraudulently elected resident of the White House. It seems his actions in his first days in office are putting us in a state of national depression. He is also destroying jobs on which our families depend.
Here, locally, there too is great sadness following a boating accident which claimed the lives of two of community’s younger residents - Payton Soileau and Gavin Soileau.
I was not able to make it to Payton’s funeral Wednesday. To the Soileau and Bulldog families, know my prayers are with you even though I was not able to grieve with you at your side. I was, though, able to go to Gavin’s funeral Saturday at Our Lady, Queen of All Saints.
Sitting in church before the funeral began, I started thinking about my classmate, Ryan Chedester, who passed away when we were in the eighth grade. Ryan was a hypoglycemic who had to receive blood transfusions. At one of these transfusions, he received tainted blood and contracted HIV. All I really remember about the funeral is the song “Angels Among Us” by Alabama. From then, I think of Ryan whenever I hear the song.
As a side note, Ryan was in the hospital during the 1995 World Series when the Atlanta Braves were playing the Cleveland Indians. I remember one game in particular when Albert Belle stepped to the plate. Through the television screen, I told him to hit a home run for Ryan. And, he did.
Getting back to the present, though, the passing of Payton and Gavin at such a young age should remind us our time on this earth is finite. We do not know when our Lord will call us to be by his side at the bosom of Abraham.
With that being said, and with all the sadness around us today, this is a time to heal. It is also a time for all of us to come together as one body in Christ. As the hymn “One Bread, One Body” suggests, “Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man no more. One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless. And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.”
Let me offer a few ways of how I will strive to accomplish this unity. For one, I will be more tolerant to that school in Tuscaloosa. Not all the books in their library are used for coloring. Also, I will be more tolerant to the Blue Jays of St. Ed’s. This one will really be a task, but I promise to retire my banana joke. What is my banana joke, you ask. One Friday afternoon I was leaving town to go cover a football game for Oakdale, and I crossed the St. Ed’s bus on the Chataignier Road going to Sacred Heart. I hurriedly went on social media and posted the following ... I just crossed the St Ed’s bus going to Sacred Heart. I wish I had a banana peel.