One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex standing in the foyer of the church staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names with small American flags mounted on either side of it. The seven year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, "Good morning Alex." "Good morning Pastor," he replied, still focused on the plaque. "Pastor, what is this?" he asked. The pastor said, "Well, son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service." Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque. Finally, little Alex's voice, barely audible and trembling with fear, asked, "Which service, the 8:30 or the 10:45?
When I was young, I watched baptisms very carefully trying to see if anyone was going to die when being baptized. You see, during Mass, there comes a line in the Eucharistic Prayer that says "and for those who died in baptism with Christ" and then names members of the congregation who had recently passed away. I truly thought there were a LOT of people dying during baptism, and I was thankful to have survived my own baptism!
