• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Years surrounded by God

February 28, 2018
By Father Joseph Breighner
Filed Under: Commentary, Wit & Wisdom

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

On the first day of March, an interesting thing will happen to me. I will turn 73 years of age. I share that because I never thought I would live to see it.

My mother died in 1983 at the age of 72, and I thought I would probably die at the same age. This has not been any kind of morbid curiosity for me. I was just guessing.

How long should we live? In the Old Testament, there is the line: “Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty if we are strong.” Life expectancy was very short in Biblical times. Seventy or 80 years would indeed have been a long life.

Today life expectancy, at least in the Western Hemisphere, is longer than ever. Because of clean drinking water, an abundance of food and good medical care, people are living into their 90s and even into their 100s. Many of us experience what Cardinal Lawrence Shehan’s memoir called “A Blessing of Years.” Yet, I recall those various times when he would celebrate a birthday at St. Mary’s Seminary, which he would invariably end by saying: “Pray that there won’t be many more of these.”

At the same time, too many young people die of disease, accidents or violence. Few things are sadder than the death of a young person.

So how do we understand life? A person currently dying of cancer said it so well and so simply: “Each day of life really is a gift.” We say those words so easily. They’re not always easy to live.

President Lincoln was once asked how tall a man should be. He responded by saying: “A man’s legs should be long enough to reach the ground.”

Perhaps we might paraphrase that and say: “A person’s life should be long enough to reach God.”

Obviously, not every person does grow up to have an opportunity to articulate a faith in God. But I believe that from the first moment of conception, God has faith in us. Our lives matter in time and eternity to God. “I have loved you with an everlasting love. I love you and you are mine.” We never cease belonging to God.

We are surrounded by oxygen, even though we can’t feel it or see it. It keeps us alive. We are surrounded by God even though we can’t always feel or see God. God keeps us alive. I’m glad that I’ve lived long enough to share God with you.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Father Joseph Breighner

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

The virtue of patriotism

Sculpture of St. Rita and St. Therese with a cross and holy water font at the center sits on a table

A Gift and a Connection to the Past

Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use

Cupcakes with 2025 graduation toothpicks in them and a bowl of cookies

Our 31-hour Road Trip

St. Paul and discovering that sin is ‘missing the mark’

| Recent Local News |

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

Father Herman Benedict Czaster, former Curley teacher, dies at 86

Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • 80 years after ‘Trinity,’ Catholic-hosted gathering calls to abolish nuclear weapons
  • Gaza’s Christian community persevering amid hardship and hope
  • Nearly one in three conceptions in England and Wales end in abortion, government figures reveal
  • The virtue of patriotism
  • Caring for others, serving life is the ‘supreme law,’ pope says
  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies
  • Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors’ new president ‘pioneer in his field,’ French lawyer says
  • Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter
  • Jesus did not ignore those in need, and neither should Christians, pope says

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en