Real meaning of “goodbye”

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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 31 August 2023
1 Thessalonians 3:7-13   ><))))*> + <*((((><   Matthew 24:42-51

I just realized today
while praying your words,
O Lord, from St. Paul
the true meaning of
goodbye:  it is not really
an end but beginning
of another meeting,
of another coming together.

How lovely is St. Paul's
prayer to the early 
Christians he had not seen
for so long!

Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy one. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13

Teach me to live in the present
moment, Lord;
let me savor the beauty
and joy of each moment,
of each day filled with life;
let me celebrate the presence
of every person I meet
and enable them too
to celebrate life in you;
let me not waste my life
awaiting for your coming
or return, awaiting for my
own end and death
for every here and now
is also my last moment.

Goodbye, O Lord,
is not departure
but coming together
again, until we meet
again.  Wherever,
whenever.  Even in forever.
Amen.