Did You Know

According to Irish tradition, a “thin place” is a place or moment where heaven and earth, time and Eternity seem to meet and we experience, however briefly, the intersection of the two. It is an experience of time (the horizontal) and eternity (the vertical) touching momentarily. As Catholics we are invited to become more aware of and take note of times and places where the “veil” between the seen and the unseen world is “thinner” than at other times. During these graced moments, we experience a greater sense of the Presence of God in deeper way, as the distance between heaven and earth, light and darkness, past and present intersect momentarily. The whole month of November is such a time of heightened awareness within the liturgical calendar of the Church. For Catholics November is not simply a “run up to Christmas”, it is a very special time for “holy remembering”. All Saints and All Souls and the special remembrance of our deceased loved ones during the Masses of November invite us beyond the present moment of loss to reach out in love as we remember those who have gone before us, whether sinner or saint. The liturgy of these days tells us that life is changed not ended, and the Mass itself becomes a “thin place” as we remember that our loved ones are never far away from us, for they have “only gone as far from us as God, and God is here.” The seasonal change of autumn gives a natural setting for reflection on the end of things, as the leaves fall and the earth enters into a time of darkness and rest. (Catholicism is a “nature religion” – it sees all of nature as part of God’s continuing revelation – and the liturgical (Church) calendar prayerfully marks the times and seasons of life.) “Thin places” are not exclusively geographical but are moments of being more aware and listening and seeing and touching and smelling and tasting – opening these doors (the five senses) to the Living God, ‘in Whom we live and move and have our being’. Awareness and holiness are the same thing, when that awareness leads us to God. While not primarily geographical, “thin places” are more common than our unseeing world would have us believe. To step into our Memorial Prayer Garden or any Cemetery for a brief moment of prayer and remembering one can experience a “thin place”. Spending time in Adoration and remembering before God the names or just the faces of our departed loved ones, can bring us into a “thin place”. Even the simple act of holding a loved one in close remembrance during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and consciously uniting with them in this “the most perfect Prayer ever offered” can allow us to experience the ultimate “thin place”: Calvary! In this special holy time of November, find your “thin place” or better, let your “thin places” find you, to be open and aware of the reality of “what no one has ever seen, no one has ever heard, no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)