Like it was yesterday and ever day since
is the memory which makes me wince
that childhood can be erased
and all lost innocence traced
to a single moment.
Sister lined up my first grade class
along the back wall, she put us in place,
gently pushing and prodding.
Then, she drew our attention, with no coddling,
to the lesson she was about to impart;
one which will reside there until my soul should depart.
The lesson from our first grade catechism
explained the grace of God as our chrism.
Every child wonders why she is born,
how her life came to be is a question well-worn.
The answer sister told us is simple and clear.
God simply wanted us here.
She added with smiling and quiet sigh.
From the moment of your birth you begin to die.
That is your purpose; to live then die, to journey to God.
I blinked my eyes in solemn surprise, then prod
with the question I just had to ask, “I am dying alive?”
The answer was clear, “Doing good is how you survive.”
Age is not a curse, but a lesson in living
after a public and private life of giving
all that one is or ever could be,
seeking every person’s right to liberty.
With age comes wisdom softly hidden
in that catechism message often forbidden
to instruct the lives of our children,
entertained and overly protected
by a crass generation of parents selected
to bring forth lives to serve others in goodness,
not merely create a personal fortress
filled with money and goods to stem their loss
of lives full of purpose, all honor tossed.
Dying to self starts at our birth.
Living for others gives our lives worth.
Remember this rule from God’s covenant.
Living for others makes age irrelevant.
annarino writes 