The Air Force cadet scheduled to make his first parachute jump
Listened intently as the instructor
Told him how to jump from the plane.

“Pull the chute, count and pull the parachute cord.”

If the chute failed to open,
The cadet was to pull the cord of the emergency chute.

When he landed safely he was to pack the parachute
And hike to the southeast corner of the landing area,
Where a van would pick him up.

The rookie cadet was ready after all these instructions.
He jumped out of the plane and pulled the cord.

Nothing happened,
So he pulled the emergency cord.

Again nothing happened.

As the cadet continued rapidly to fall to the earth
He said to himself,

“I should not have trusted that instructor.

“I’ll bet the van won’t be on the corner either.”
[laughter]

The Air Force cadet missed the whole picture,
He didn’t see the bigger picture
And the real consequences.

We can sometimes be like that rookie cadet,
And miss the whole point
And the real consequences of our lives.

We can sometimes miss the Lord present and working in our lives
Because we are focused somewhere else.

Thereby missing the bigger picture and sometimes
We get so focused on ourselves we miss what is all around us.

Let me share a true story.

About 30 years ago or 35 years ago,
Three seminarians, at then called Niles College Seminary
Of Loyola University completed a 5,000 piece puzzle.

This puzzle was a monster 5,000 pieces.
It completely covered one large huge table.

You’ll be asking yourself:
Did these seminarians ever study?

Yes they did.
They’re actually all three honor students.

These three seminarians were very proud
Of their accomplishment and displayed their masterpiece
For everyone in the seminary to see,
Students and faculty alike.

I was with a group of seminarians
Admiring this 5,000 completed puzzle
When one of the students said,

“If you look there’s one little piece missing.”

It was true, toward the upper right hand corner
Of the completed puzzle, one small piece was missing.

Their 5,000 piece puzzle was really 4,999 pieces.
They had lost one piece.

That seminarian’s comment made me think:
Our life is very much like a puzzle.

We see all the good pieces of our lives
We focus on that one piece that is missing.

Too many people focus and miss the whole picture of life
Because they focus on one piece that is missing.
Which causes them to miss all the good pieces of their lives.

Think about this, in life no one’s puzzle is complete.
We all have a few pieces that are missing
And need healing or feeding, need rearranging and changing.

We call this sin in our lives no one is perfect.

And think about this, every time you point a finger
At somebody and say, “You did this. You did that.”
Three of your own fingers are pointing right back at you.

Don’t judge, we are all sinners,
Loved and forgiven by God.

But the key is we don’t walk through life alone.

Through this Easter Season we celebrate the life,
The death, and Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Lord is with us.
We can choose to abandon God but God will never abandon us.

If you listen in today’s Gospel:

‘I will not leave you orphaned I’ll come back to you
The person who loves me, will be loved by my Father.’

Remember this thought: the hand will not reach out
Where the heart does not long for.