High Noon

OK. So what was the "High Noon," movie point for my homily?  For you movie buffs, at the end of the movie Gary Cooper, with four dead gunmen lying in the dust, throws his Sheriff's badge on the ground, looks at the townspeople who had abandoned him in their cowardice, and with disgust on his face because of their weakness, takes his new bride, Grace Kelly, gets into the wagon and drives away.  He wants no more to do with these people.  They failed him.  God does not throw his badge into the dust in disgust at us.  God took on skin in Jesus, so believe many of us.  Jesus died, abandoned by his followers, cowards, and rose from the dead.  He came back to them, forgave them and gave them a task that would make them better people.  God never loses hope in us, in spite of our past and our ongoing handicaps.  Peter would not forget that he had cowardice in him.  But he would make the most of it and do quite well in becoming all God made him to be.  So can all of us.  We all have mess, past and not so past.  Grace comes to all of us.  We need not wallow in the past, or use it as an excuse to be helpless or part of the solution.  We can all become saints with our baggage.  Grace makes the load lighter.  God is never going to abandon us.