Did You Know?

In a culture that tries to ignore the reality of death and mortality in general, our Catholic practice of remembering and praying for those who have died is yet another place in which the Church is “counter-cultural”. The culture is wrong and unrealistic. Take time to offer your Masses, prayers and devotions on behalf of your deceased family members and friends. Sometime during the month visit the gravesites of loved ones, or stop into the Memorial Prayer Garden, and pray for the repose of their souls and all the souls of the Faithful departed. One of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to pray for the living and for the dead. Some families add the following prayer to their mealtime ‘grace’: “May the souls of the Faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.” This is a simple, but beautiful reminder that we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses” in the Communion of Saints, and that we depend upon on one another for prayer before God. Did your loved one has a special devotion to a particular saint or did they have a favorite prayer? If so, add that prayer or devotion to your own daily prayer in honor of their faith! Did your loved one have a favorite charity? Send a donation in their name or pray for the success of that charitable group! Pausing on each bead to quietly remember a deceased loved one is a beautiful way to pray the Rosary during the month of November! (As a wise writer observed, “As soon as a Catholic can pray the “Hail Mary” they are learning three very important lessons for life: 1) they are a sinner, 2) they need the prayers of others, and 3) they are going to die. ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death’.”)

Next Sunday, we will celebrate the last Sunday of the liturgical year with the Feast of Christ the King, literally the ‘crowning’ of the Church Year! We will celebrate with a Procession of the Blessed Sacrament following the 10:00 AM Mass next Sunday morning! Please join us for the Procession and Adoration and proclaim with us: “JESUS CHRIST IS KING!”