Are You Coming Back?

03-14-2021Pastor's CornerRev. Robert J. Deehan, V.F.

I share with you below what I provided in my Flocknote Email Video Message of March 4th. If you’d like to receive these weekly emails/texts from Holy Family, visit: www.holyfamilyduxbury.flocknote.com or text HFDUX to 84576.

You might say I was the “late-comer” in my family, with a brother 20 years older and a sister 17 years older and then I came along. I have fond memories as a young child getting on my brother’s back in the living room and “riding” as if I were on horseback. It was delightful! Well, it wasn’t long after when my brother Bill enlisted in the Army. I was about 2, and he went away for a long time.

It was maybe a year after my brother left home, when I looked out the window from my sister’s bedroom one summer evening and noticed my parents below getting into the car to go out. Suddenly, I became frantic and yelled out the window, “Are you coming back?” They reassured me that they were just going out for the evening and that they would indeed come back home… not like what happened when my brother left home and he didn’t come back.

Sadly, the same question I asked as a young child, I find myself asking as an adult, along with many others who work in church ministry, as we fondly remember the parishioners we once saw in church before the pandemic, but haven’t seen since! “Are you coming back?” Maybe you’re someone who’s had the same question in your mind as you look around and miss the people you used to see at your favorite Mass. Well, in this time of pandemic, I can understand there are good reasons for some folks to have stayed home. Still, we’ve been open since June, with social distancing and other protocols to keep people safe. Things are opening up; vaccines are being distributed; a growing number of folks are out and about going to other places.

And still, the question remains… “Are you coming back?” I’m afraid for some, habits have changed making it less likely for them to come back. Can you do me a favor? If you see someone out there whom you miss seeing in church, please ask them: “Are you coming back?” And, if they say they’re not sure, take that opportunity to invite them back! Tell them you miss them and so do a lot of their friends at Holy Family - including Jesus.

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