All Soul's Day

The Rabbis of our Jewish ancestors had a saying:  “To remember is to give life.  To forget is to let die.”  For this reason Jews have long remembered their dead.  We too have a long history of remembering those who have died.  This is expressed every time we gather for Eucharist in the praying of our Eucharistic prayers: 

Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and all who have died in your mercy.  Eucharistic Prayer II.

But once a year, on November 2, the Church sets aside an entire day to remember and to pray for our dead.  This day is called The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed or All Soul’s Day and falls on a Sunday this year, replacing the 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time. 

If you listen closely to the texts of the Mass for this day, you will hear a central belief of our faith—that the death and resurrection of Jesus gives meaning and hope to our own death:

Look favorably on our offerings, O Lord, so that your departed servants may be taken up into glory with your Son, in whose great mystery of love we are all united.  Prayer over the Offerings.

At my parish, we will remember and pray for our dead not only at Mass this day, but in other ways as well.   

An altar or ofrenda, marking the Day of the Dead, a holiday in Mexico and other Latin cultures, will be placed in the narthex.  These altars are typically adorned with photos, memorabilia--- even the favorite foods and beverages of those who have died.

As well, a book of remembrance with the names of our departed dead and a picture board with photos of those who have died in the past year will be located in the narthex throughout November.

May our remembrance of our departed loved ones bring them peace and deepen the faith we profess each time we say the creed:  “I look forward to resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

The Work of CARA

Did you know that Catholicism has a higher retention rate than most other religions in the United States?  Or that between 1993 and 2013 more than 2.7 million people (about the same size as the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.) joined the Catholic Community through the RCIA process?

These findings come from the Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate, or CARA.  CARA is a research center in Washington D.C. that conducts social scientific studies and collects data on the Catholic Church in the United States.  CARA officially began in 1964 during the Second Vatican Council, but its origins go back to 1951 when Catholic missionaries discovered the need for data to help them serve an emerging world church. 

Dr. Mary Gautier, a sociologist with CARA, says the trends for the future of the U.S. Catholic Church are encouraging and discouraging, “The numbers of men who are preparing for priesthood have been very stable over the past 15 years.  Even though we have been experiencing a priest shortage, God is still calling people to vocation … it’s just that it cannot match the number that we had in the 1950s and 60s.  But, the numbers of lay formation programs in particular diocesan funded-programs have been decreasing and I find that to be a very disconcerting, very concerning issue because the need for formed lay ministers is greater than ever before but the places for them to receive this formation are decreasing.

Gautier says one of the benefits of social science research is that it offers a broader perspective, “When you are at a parish in the Northeast and you see nothing but grey heads around and you read about parishes closing it feels like a death experience--it feels like the church is declining.  It’s so life-giving to me to be able to pull back and look at the national picture and to say ‘you don’t know what it’s like in Dallas or in Austin or in Los Angeles or places where they are bursting at the seams because there is so much life.’”

CARA is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this month.  To look at their latest research, go to cara.georgetown.edu

Yours is a Share

Many years ago, Austin Fleming wrote a book called “Yours is a Share” in which he expounds on various liturgical ministries.  Of all our liturgical ministries, the ministry of the assembly is primary.  These words, taken from Fleming’s book, help to explain why.

 

Yours is a share in the work of the Spirit of all that is holy,

for in who you are and in what you do is found the most powerful experience of the sacred.

Yours is the kingdom community whose very assembling

is sacrament of God’s presence in the world.

In the living words, gestures, sacrifice, and meal of your common prayer,

the living God is disclosed as the faithful and redeeming Lord whose tent is pitched among us.

Yours is the ministry of being the beloved and espoused of God.

Yours is the work of telling and handing on the story of God’s mercy.

You are the people who embody the promise of life forever.

For the world you are evidence that the word of judgment is tempered with compassion.

Yours is the ministry of celebrating again and again the Passover meal of the new Covenant.

Yours is the work of gathering at the table which welcomes all

who turn their hearts back to God.

Yours is the ministry to bring bread and wine, to give thanks, to break and share the bread,

to bless and share the cup-remembering Christ Jesus broken and poured out for your sakes.

Come to your ministry from your personal prayer:

it is the home from which you journey to the house of God’s people.

Come prepared to be surprised by God’s word and presence in the assembly of your neighbors.

Come as you are!

Come as sinners who need to find mercy, as the redeemed who need to give thanks.

Come with all that needs to be healed, to the Lord who comes to heal you.

Be faithful in the work you do, for through it the Lord saves his people.

For the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

Not long ago, I had the good fortune to again witness the beauty, the grace and the unconditional love of animals.  I visited Canine Assistants in Milton with a friend and parishioner who is deeply involved with the organization.  Canine Assistants is a non-profit organization that trains and provides service dogs to children and adults with physical disabilities, seizure disorders or other special needs.  The organization, founded in 1991, has placed more than 1,500 dogs since it first opened its doors.  Most of the dogs are born, raised and trained at the organization’s farm in Milton.  The service dogs are also used to help children in the Atlanta area learn how to read.  Children who are uncomfortable reading in front of their peers are at ease reading in the nurturing presence of dogs—giving the children the confidence they need to overcome academic challenges.

These are just a couple of examples of the way God uses animals to express God’s love for humanity.  In the Bible, we read how animals have played a role in salvation history—from the animals that were saved from the flood and then made a part of the covenant with Noah to the paschal lamb which calls to mind the Passover sacrifice and deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.   

St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is next Saturday, is known as the patron of animals and the environment.  It is believed that Francis communicated with animals as if they were human—even making peace with a ferocious wolf who was threatening an entire town.

 

St. Francis believed that all of creation was made by God and therefore was good.  He invited all of creation, even “Brother Sun and Sister Moon,” as he called them, to give constant praise to God.  

The Sign of Peace

“Peace I leave you; my peace I give you.”  With these words, Jesus promised his followers the gift of his peace before facing his passion and death—a peace born from the trust he had in God.  Following his resurrection, Jesus returns and utters, “Peace be with you.”  Christ’s peace is the fruit of his death and resurrection.  We experience Christ’s peace each time we gather for Eucharist, when we see Christ in each other, when we hear him speak to us in the Gospel and  when we exchange the sign of peace.  This embrace of peace imitates the teaching of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew:  “If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled … and then come and offer your gift.”  The intent of the sign of peace is to reconcile any differences among members of the body of Christ and to bring them into communion with each other. 

We experience communion with each other before we have communion with Christ.  But, it doesn’t end there.  Our exchange of peace is a rehearsal of the how we are to live—in peace—in the world.  As the Vatican recently noted:

“Today, a serious obligation for Catholics in building a more just and peaceful world is accompanied by a deeper understanding of the Christian meaning of peace and this depends largely on the seriousness with which our particular Churches welcome and invoke the gift of peace and express it in the liturgical celebration.”

The Church is trying to teach us that we all have the potential and the responsibility to be peacemakers.  Those who want to further reflect on what it means to truly be a peacemaker might consider taking the adult class Instruments of Christ: Reflections on the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, which is being offered at St. Thomas Aquinas beginning this Sunday.  Let us pray that like St. Francis, we too can be instruments of Christ’s peace in a world that is weary, war-torn and crying out for healing and peace.