PHOTO: Mary van Balen
The story Fr. Denis told during the homily today was simple but profound. Maybe you’ve heard it: A soldier was forced to eject from his plane during battle and float to earth with the help of his parachute. He landed safely but was captured and spent five years in a prisoner of war camp before finally returning home. Many years later, he was staying in a hotel and engaged in conversation with another older veteran. Turned out they both had served on the same aircraft carrier.
“I was a parachute packer,” the older man said. The two men talked for a while and then parted ways. Only after he had returned home and thought about the conversation did the pilot think, “That man may have packed my parachute. He may have been the one who saved my life.”
Likely, packing parachutes on an aircraft carrier during wartime was a long, tedious job. Doing the same thing over and over. Not glamorous. No medals to be had. Simply doing a job well. I wonder how many lives that man saved with his skill and attention to his task.
Then Fr. Denis wondered aloud about the parachute packers in our lives. Surely, there are many, and many of them strangers. People we will never know. The researchers who help develop drugs that save lives and treat depression or stave off infection. The factory workers who can the pumpkin that shows up on many tables today baked into a pie. Parents. Teachers. Friends. The kind associate who helps you find stuff when you’re in a hurry at the grocery store. People who raise the food you eat. Office workers who funnel all those insurance papers through the crazy systems that help make doctor’s visits or surgeries affordable.
The list, of course, is never ending. There is much to lament in our world. There always has been. But today is a day to focus on what is good, life-giving, and full of grace.
At the end of Mass, Fathers Denis and Dean and the two women altar servers handed out small loves of bread to everyone. A reminder of how we are fed, by God and by one another. We don’t make our way through life alone. We’ve got lots of parachute packers walking along with us. Some stay for the long haul. Some move in and out, maybe once and never again. Today we might take a minute or two to reflect on those who have “saved our lives” and give thanks for them and the God who made us all.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Parachute packers? I wondered, “What in the world? ‘What color is my parachute?’ Has there been a free-fall?” and then I found this! I don’t feel like I have saved any lives. I often feel like a trouble-maker. But, in any event, I like to think that I try to do my best with whatever situation that I find myself in. So many situations that I don’t feel have been of my making turn out to be an interesting experience, if not a heavenly one. And I learn. And I teach. And I learn. And teach. Parachute packers probably didn’t work alone. They probably still don’t. Then I would be happy to be one. There are so many precious lives to save!
That’s the thing about parachute packers. They never know whose lives they are saving.
Thanks so much Mary. What a lovely reminder of the wonderful people in our lives. Hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and that it won’t be too hard at work this month. My parents owned a flower shop and I remember how exhausting December was.