November: praying for peace for All Souls...

We always pray for those who have died and we do so with special devotion 

    in November, the month of All Souls.

You might pause for a moment and remember, perhaps even write down, 

    the names of those who have died for whom you want to pray. 

Then pray these words from the 1969 Funeral Rite:

Peace be with those who have left us,

    with those who have gone to God.
May they be at peace.
May they be with God.

May they be with the living God.
May they be with the immortal God.
May they be in God's strong arms 

    and gentle hands.

May they sleep in peace.
    May they live in peace.
        May they be where the name of God is great.

May they be with the living God now and on the day of judgment.
    May they live with God.
        May they live in eternal light.

May they live in the peace of the Lord.
    May they live forever in peace,
        With God in peace.

................................................................... 

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake

and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

 

Deep Peace by John Rutter, performed by Libera

 

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Seven Brides One Bride for seven brothers

This coming weekend finds us celebrating on the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. These end-of-the-liturgical-year scriptures often draw our attention to the end times. This Sunday's scriptures does that AND offers an opportunity for preachers to give a nod to November, the month of All Souls.In the gospel from Luke, some Sadducees (who deny a resurrection from the dead) pose a kind of riddle to Jesus. In his wisdom, Jesus answers and disarms his questioners, teaching not only about the resurrection but also something about marriage.

Only ONE bride, not seven, for the seven brothers here!

There are also seven brothers in the first scripture this weekend - but their's is a different story. Faced with suffering and death for their faithfulness to their God (refusing to eat pork), they give an early testimony to their belief in life after death.

Unrelated to the thematic resonance in the first and third scriptures of the day, the passage from the second letter to the Thessalonians finds Paul encouraging his readers not to worry about the time of the Second Coming but rather to stand firm in their faith in the moment. Today, and certainly in a 12 step group, Paul would write, "Keep it in today!"

The texts of these scriptures and commentary on them can be found here and if you're shepherding youngsters to Mass, check here for hints on helping them prepare to hear the Lord's Word.


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In the month of All Souls: A reflection on dying

Image by Beau S.

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”
“Gone where?”
Gone from my sight. That is all.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says:
“There, she is gone!”
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“Here she comes!”

And that is dying.

-Henry Van Dyke

 

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Test Post of Grooveshark Widget

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How did this happen?

CandyBlog

It occurred to me this morning, the second day after Halloween, that in this whole spooky season not one piece of candy corn has been within my arm's reach!

How this came to pass I don't know.  I do know that I'm healthier for the absence of this seasonal treat but there is just a little sadness about the whole affair...

(Please Note: this is not a veiled attempt to get the locals to deliver candy corn to my door or my desk!)


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All Souls Day 2010

All Souls Day by Aladar Korosfoi-Kriesch; this Hungarian painting depicts the custom in some cultures of visiting cemeteries on November 2 and lighting candles at the graves of loved ones; click on image for larger version


Reflection for All Souls Day

At the heart of all our worship as Catholic Christians,
we pause to remember…
We remember Christ, and all he did for us;
we remember how he suffered, died and rose for us;
and in word and sacrament,
we remember what he did at table with his friends
on the night before he died.
Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, then,
we remember someone who has died: our brother, Jesus.

And every time we celebrate the Eucharist
we remember others who have died, too.
You know the words as well as I do:
Remember our brothers and sisters
who have gone to their rest in the hope of rising again;
bring them and all the departed into the light of your presence…
We remember all our brothers and sisters in Christ
and not only them but all the departed
- everyone who has died -
and we pray that through the mercy and love of God
every one of them will enjoy the light and peace of God, forever.

Of course, when we pray for those who have died
we remember first those whom we loved the most,
those whom we miss the most.
When I pray the remembrance of the dead,
my heart seldom fails to remember my mother and father:
others, too – but always them.
I’m sure there are names that come to your heart, too.
And we pray for them…

But why do we pray for them?

What do we pray for them?

Our knowledge of human frailty and our faith in God’s mercy
teach us that when we die, God might not be quite yet finished
with fashioning us, making us ready for eternal life.

Our whole life on earth is a journey to the dwelling place
Christ has prepared and reserved for us in his Father’s house.
Sometimes we stay right on the path that leads us home
and sometimes we take short cuts or make detours
or even turn around and walk in the other direction!

We need the Lord to shepherd us from death into life...

So it might be, it might even be likely,
that at the end of our life our rough edges
might need some buffing and polishing.

The Church has long taught that after death,
those not quite ready for heaven
may need some further purification.
This has sometimes been called purgatory.
But we might have a false picture of purgatory.
It’s not some “flaming concentration camp on the outskirts of hell.” *
It’s not God’s last chance to make us suffer!

St. Catherine spoke beautifully of the fire of purgatory
as “God’s love burning the soul until it was wholly aflame
-- with the love of God.”
It’s like the fire mentioned in the book of Wisdom:
“As gold in the furnace, God will prove us, purify us,
and take us to himself… we shall shine…
and we shall abide forever with God in love…”
If there is pain in purgatory,
it is the pain of longing to be with God,
to be worthy of the heaven Jesus won for us.

And so we pray for those who have gone before us
that God bring to completion the good work begun in their lives
while they were still with us.
We cannot know how or even if time is measured in this purification.
Perhaps one day, one hour, one minute on our clocks
of finally and fully realizing the greatness of God’s love for us
and how unloving in return we often were,
perhaps one second will be all it takes to purify us
of the sins of taking God’s love and the love of others for granted.

When we remember those who have died
some of us might recall those who hurt and harmed in this life.
Nothing is impossible for God.
We can pray for these, too, entrusting them to God
who knows how to make even the hardest of hearts
ready for his mercy.

Of course, many of those whom we remember on All Souls Day
were long ago perfected by God’s mercy
and welcomed to their places in heaven
We remember and pray for them, too.

Today, and through this month of November,
we remember those who have gone to their rest
in the hope of rising again and all the departed...

And we remember Jesus, our brother, who died for us and rose
and opened the door to his Father’s house
and prepared for each of us a dwelling place in his peace.

*See Leondard Foley, OFM




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I hope that on Tuesday night you can say...

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November 2: All Souls Day

On All Souls Day, November 2, the church prays for all who have died that through the purifying mercy of God they will come to the share in the Lord's resurrection and enjoy the peace of God's reign forever. The joy of All Saints is sobered by our prayer for the dead.

The audio is Pie Jesu from the Faure Requiem Mass.  The translation of this simple prayer for those who have died is this:

Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.	Faithful Lord Jesus, grant them rest.
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam.	Faithful Lord Jesus, grant them everlasting rest.

You might play and pray this on All Souls Day or any day in November when you're remembering in your prayer those who have died: those known to you and those known only to God... From the prayers for Mass on All Souls Day: Merciful Father, hear our prayers and console us... strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters will share in your Son's resurrection... Accept these gifts and receive our brothers and sisters into the glory of your Son... May this sacrifice wash away the sins of our departed brothers and sisters in the blood of Christ. You cleansed them in the waters of baptism. In your loving mercy grand them pardon and peace. Check the sidebar and click on Saint of the Day. The following are excerpts from the entry for November 2:

In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny (France), decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church...

The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification...

Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians. Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory. Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death. In prayer we stand in God's presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death...

“We must not make purgatory into a flaming concentration camp on the brink of hell—or even a ‘hell for a short time.’ It is blasphemous to think of it as a place where a petty God exacts the last pound—or ounce—of flesh.... St. Catherine of Genoa, a mystic of the 15th century, wrote that the ‘fire’ of purgatory is God’s love ‘burning’ the soul so that, at last, the soul is wholly aflame. It is the pain of wanting to be made totally worthy of One who is seen as infinitely lovable, the pain of desire for union that is now absolutely assured, but not yet fully tasted." (Leonard Foley, O.F.M.)

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Another take on the Litany of the Saints!

Here's a smattering of holy pattering!

Gilbert and Sullivan fans will recognize this as the tune for the Modern Major General in Pirates of Penzance.

Enjoy!


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Monday Morning Offering - 117

Coffee in the Morning by George Mendoza

Today's the first day of November and November is the month of All Souls,
a special time to pray for those who have died.
You might want to keep today's MMO as prayer for the days of November...

Good morning, gracious God...

November wraps its dampened shroud
‘round nature’s shoulders hunched:
our souls know well the chill
of summer’s passing and winter's drawing near...

Bare limbs scratch against gray skies,
and snatch a mourner’s veil
from hearts laid bare in shivering loss,
alone, exposed in grief…

November, Lord: no other month
could better claim the name All Souls
or set the scene for praying, weeping,
rememb'ring those before us gone
and marked with signs of faith…

So this November morning, Lord,
I offer my beloved: created from your hand,
claimed by grace and carried
in the everlasting arms of your embrace…

I especially offer you my prayer today
for family members and friends who have died...
(mention your loved ones here, by name)

I offer you from my heart's depths
the ones I struggle to let go…

I offer you a prayer of tears
for those whose absence fills my silent hours…

I offer from my hands to yours
the ones whose hands held mine
until you took them home…

I offer from a selfish heart
the ones I bruised and hurt:
I pray you heal the wounds I caused,
and for your mercy beg…

I offer up a prayer
for those with none to pray for them:
brothers, sisters never met;
sisters, brothers mine,
for all are one in you...

I offer you my grief, O Lord,
refresh me in your tender care;
make deep my faith I'll see again
all those I've lost when,
gathered in your kingdom's joy,
your mercy makes us one again...

Beneath November’s canopy
walk others, Lord, who know as well as I
the depths of this month’s memories
and all the souls for whom we pray:
keep us gentle with each other, Lord,
and mindful of what binds us in your love…

Accept my mourning offering, Lord,
on this November day
and through the night until it dies
and wakes again, a new day born,
the day that you have made...

Amen.


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