Pastor's Note

SIGNATURES
March 4th, 2007

Last Sunday as I watched the men and women in RCIA sign the Book of the Elect, I was struck by the many different ways people sign their names. Some are precise and show carefully practiced cursive. Others are illegible by design. And there are those that are completely stylized.
Signatures represent us. We sign our names on checks, contracts, and many other important papers. Even on documents that are not officially ‘legal,’ like signatures on notes to the teacher, we know that the signature we give represents us. Therefore, a signature matters.
I have in my collection a couple of treasured signatures. Some years ago, I wrote to Bishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa to show my support of his opposition to apartheid. He wrote back a simple letter on a manual typewriter. (A year later, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.) A year or two later I wrote to author Elie Wiesel. He also wrote back and signed the letter himself. (The following year he, too, received the Nobel Peace Prize.)
Yet my most valuable signature is the one simply written, “Mom,” on a note I received from my mother a few years before her death.
In all of these cases, I realize that a signature is more than just a name. It represents a person and all that he or she stands for. We leave behind us many indications of who we are. As people note our signature, may they also recall what good we stand for while in this world.