Never Change

Holding on tightly to Jesus

Hebrews 13:5-8

 

Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never forsake you or abandon you. Thus we may say with confidence: The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me? Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

            We all have things we love and hold on tightly to and we don’t want these things to change.  Is there anything you hope will never change and you won’t lose?  The “Peanuts” character Linus loved his blue blanket and never wanted to lose it.  Some children come to Mass with their Teddy Bear or doll, and I give them a blessing, but not Holy Communion!  When I was in high school, we used to say to our friends, “Love you.  Mean it.  Never change!”  We wanted to stay friends forever, and never lose touch with each other.

             One of the most powerful lessons of my life was also the most painful: I learned that sometimes things do change even though we hold on tightly to them.  When I was 7 years old, my family moved half way around the world and came to the United States, and everything changed for me.  I lost my friends, I left my neighborhood, I lost my house, and most importantly, I left Indian food!  But that taught me a very valuable lesson: everything in this world changes except one thing, one Person.  Do you know who that is?  It’s God.  He is everywhere and we can always hold on tightly to him.

             In the first reading today, the Letter to the Hebrews tells us the one Person we can always hold on to.  Who does Hebrews say it is?  It’s Jesus!  Boys and girls, here’s one Bible verse every Christian should memorize and hold on tightly to, just as tightly as to your blanket and Teddy Bear: Hebrews 13:8.  It reads, “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.”  In other words, sooner or later, everything in this world changes, so start holding on tightly to the One who never changes, who will be around, “yesterday, today and forever.”  Jesus is the only One to whom we can really say, “Love you. Mean it. Never change.”  Because he doesn’t.

             Boys and girls, changes are hard, and we’ve had quite a few in our school lately.  It’s hard when there’s a priest change; it was very hard when Msgr. Galvin died, and then we’ve had lots of new priests since then.  You should know that changes are hard for priests, too.  We get comfortable in a certain parish, and we have our blankets and Teddy Bears there!  It’s hard for priests to move to a new parish.  A couple of teachers retired last year: Mrs. Janet Smith and Sr. Mary Sarto, and we miss them.  They are now probably sitting on a beach in Florida working on their tans – so not all changes are hard!  And the hardest change of all is when someone dies, like Mr. Martinez.  But I don’t want you to be sad thinking about all these changes. I want you to remember the lesson I learned when I was 7: even though everything changes, God never does.  I want you to hold on all the tighter to Jesus, the One who never changes.

            So, go ahead and hang on to your blanket, and hug your Teddy Bear, and give Fr. John lots of hugs and kisses!  But only to one Person can we say with complete confidence: “Love you. Mean it. Never change!”  That is Jesus.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!