Happy Commemoration of All Souls!
Massive congratulations and special thanks to the entire cast and crew for last weekend’s Back From the Dead Cemetery Walk. I hope you were able to see it and learn the lessons of those who’ve gone before us. In the Catholic faith, we dedicate this month of November to prayer for our beloved deceased and for all saved souls who are still being purified by the love of God.
In order to prepare for our own death, the Church especially commends to us the words of Christ, who urges us in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Mercy is powerful beyond measure. When born from the genuine love of God and our neighbor, it helps us atone for our own sins and shortcomings. The Lord’s apostles taught this very lesson to the first generation of Christians: “Above all, hold unfailingly to your earnest love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pt 4:8).
In God’s holy will, we are called to be merciful to those we walk with in this life and also to those who have walked before us into the next life. Thus, among the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, we are called to bury the dead and to pray for all the living and the dead. I invite you today to pray specifically for your entire family lineage. Pray for all those who have preceded you back to the beginning. God knows every last one of them, even if you and I don’t. Keep in mind that you already have over 2 billion direct progenitors among the last 30 generations. How many more have there been since the foundation of the world? I certainly imagine that at least some of them need your prayers today to help them make it home to heaven. If you have time, visit a cemetery today, or else go sometime this month and pray for the deceased who are buried there.
As for our Saints and Scholars campaign, our official in-pew pledge weekend will be November 22–23. On that Sunday or in any of the upcoming weeks, you may mail or drop off pledge cards to the office, place them in the Sunday basket, or mail them straight to the diocese. As of early this week, we were at $30,000 in pledges. Signs abound of God’s faithfulness to us—and ours to Him. Since my first days here, I have prayed continually for our parish health in all its dimensions. Healthy things grow, and growing things change. May our transformation in the Lord continue.
Fr. Brian