News From The P.I.T. (Pastor in Training)
As the temperature drops, the sun sets earlier, and leaves fall from the trees, the Church tradition is to remember the dead in the month of November. We begin on November 1st with the celebration of All Saints, followed by All Soul's Day on November 2nd. Both are important solemnities to reflect upon. All Saints of course is a celebration of those who have achieved the goal of salvation, to be with God in Heaven (1 Peter 1:9). All Soul's Day points to the deceased who are still in need of our prayers, reminding us that we are all sinners in need of God's mercy.
In the narthex, you will have the ability to write down the names of your loved ones who have died, so that we can continue to lift them up in prayer. And for those who have experienced the death of a loved one over this past year, we are having a special memorial Mass on Monday Nov 3rd at 6:30PM. If they had a funeral at Our Lady of Mercy, their names will be read at the Universal Prayers of the Faithful during Mass, and family members will have the opportunity to light a candle for them.
Why does the Church dedicate a whole month to remember our dead? Remembering our loved ones who have died allows us to continue processing grief, but it also gives us time to strengthen our own faith in Christ Jesus. Pope St. John Paul II wrote about this in his encyclical on Faith and Reason:
…the first absolutely certain truth of our life, beyond the fact that we exist, is the inevitability of our death. Given this unsettling fact, the search for a full answer is inescapable. Each of us has both the desire and the duty to know the truth of our own destiny. We want to know if death will be the definitive end of our life or if there is something beyond--if it is possible to hope for an afterlife or not…
By reflecting on the mortality of our life, and the lives of our loved ones, it gives us the ability to reaffirm our faith in what we profess every Sunday in our Creed! Namely, that our Lord Jesus came into the world, was born of the Virgin, suffered, died and was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead! Christ has conquered sin and death, and has open the gates of Heaven to us. How beautiful it is to reflect on the promises of Christ, in which he teaches his apostles that he is preparing a place for them, for you, and for me (John 14:1-6).
In this month of November, as we remember the dead, let us celebrate the great witness of the Saints, remember our loved ones who have died, and let our faith be strengthened as we profess the beauty of Christ who has conquered sin and death and promised us Everlasting Life.
Father Michael