My dear brothers and
sisters in Christ Jesus:
When this issue of the Catholic Courier goes to press Friday, Nov. 1, I, like you, will be awaiting election results for all seeking public office at the local, state and national levels. Regardless of the results, I pray that peace and tranquility will follow these elections and begin an era of proper, civil and respectful discourse for the benefit and welfare of God’s people. It would do well for all holding public office to contemplate that all of us one day must stand before the Eternal Judge and render an account of our lives.
For Catholics, this month is a meditation on crossing over the threshold from this life to Eternal life as we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints on Nov. 1 and All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2. Each weekend and on Holy Days and Solemnities, we pray the Nicene Creed, the Profession of Faith, which concludes with the words: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” The saints honored Nov. 1 are those who took this creedal profession to heart. They may remain nameless in the Church’s liturgical calendar, but they are known to God and described in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount taken from St. Matthew’s Gospel and proclaimed on the Solemnity: those who in genuine humility acknowledged God as Father and Creator, Jesus as Savior and welcomed and embraced the wisdom of the Holy Spirit; those who prayed for their deceased loved ones and commended them to the mercy of God; those who exercised authority justly, humbly, mercifully and with God before their eyes; those who worked for true justice because we are all the sons and daughters of God; those who not only forgave but asked for forgiveness, seeking before all else the Lord’s merciful forgiveness; those who appreciated their dignity as one created in the image and likeness of God and respected their personhood, allowing no one to tarnish this image; those who worked for peace, sought to end divisions and created unity among people; and those who suffered persecution for the faith, especially those who suffered martyrdom and those who bore insults and slander simply because they held Jesus in their hearts and on their lips spoke His Name and proclaimed His Gospel (see Matthew 5:1-12).
These are the very ones who give us a blueprint for our own lives and who manifested their belief and faith in eternal life. On the Solemnity of All Saints, “we celebrate the festival of … the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, where the great array of our brothers and sisters gives you eternal praise. Towards her, we eagerly hasten as pilgrims advancing by faith, rejoicing in the glory bestowed upon those exalted members of the Church through whom you give us, in our frailty, both strength and good example” (Preface for the Solemnity of All Saints).
As we kneel in prayer on this day, no doubt our minds will recall our teachers, religious sisters and brothers; priests; relatives and friends; all those who handed on the faith to us, most especially so many mothers and fathers, even grandparents, who made countless sacrifices on our behalf, many of them probably unknown to us. There are those who came to these shores to build a new life for their children and worked so very hard to give them, us, a good education, many making sacrifices to send them to Catholic schools and colleges. Let us not forget the countless numbers of other persons who crossed our lives and, through acts of kindness, remind us of Jesus and His command: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34-35). So very true are the words: “The only thing we take with us when we die is what we have given away” (Homily of Archbishop J. Peter Sartain at the Funeral Mass for Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I., Eighth Archbishop of Chicago, on April 23, 2015; see also Glorifying Christ, Michael R. Heinlein, p. 358).
On the following day, Nov. 2, All Souls’ Day, in the Collect of the third Mass, the celebrant prays: “… grant, we pray, to your departed servants that, with the mortality of this life overcome, they may gaze eternally on you, their Creator and Redeemer” (Roman Missal, Third Edition). How very true it is that we have an eternal destiny. Our Lord intends that upon the completion of our earthly life, we “may merit to receive the joys of eternal happiness” (Collect, Second Mass of All Souls’ Day, Roman Missal, Third Edition). That we celebrate these two liturgical occasions, one following upon the other, is not an accident. We all are called to be saints, for a saint is one who lives forever with God. The Solemnity of All Saints reminds us that we are God’s noblest creation, we are His sons and daughters, and indeed we do “look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” (Nicene Creed). On All Souls’ Day we are reminded that sanctity is not to be presumed, so we pray that our departed loved ones will be “cleansed by the paschal mysteries, [so] they may glory in the gift of the resurrection to come” (Prayer after Communion, Second Mass of All Souls’ Day, Roman Missal, Third Edition).
How many today live as if this is the only life, with a mindset that can create selfishness and a disregard for the common good. We can become our own standard for behavior; we decide what is good, what is bad, what is wrong or what is right, depending upon our own interests and never seeking any direction from Jesus Christ or even from the natural law. Such an egocentric approach, lived in an isolated environment, wars against our human nature, which is directed to relationships that build up society — eyes to see the other, ears to hear the other, speech to speak to the other, arms that reach out to help the other, hearts that console and comfort the other — all virtues rooted in Jesus Christ, who reached out to everyone. One can only hope that following the 2024 elections we Catholics, and all people of good will, will allow the voice of God to return to the marketplace of life, recreating a society that appreciates how the Divine elevates the human, enriches humanity and recognizes the worth of every person from the moment of conception to natural death. In so doing, we pave the way to eternal life not only for ourselves, but also for our brothers and sisters in the family of God.
So it is then, my brothers and sisters, that united in faith, as believers in God the Father, in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, all that we do in this earthly life should be directed by our faith. Faith, the Christian life, and our membership in the Catholic Church are not accidental to who we are. Faith cannot be placed in a compartment to be acknowledged or lived only when convenient or when we consider religion suitable or appropriate for our own personal advantage. Religious faith is an ongoing, lived experience that identifies who we are in relationship to God and to one another. Faith should be so essential to our lives that we welcome its enriching impact on our daily activities; thus, it is not merely cultural, but rather faith transcends any particular culture or historical period as it allows us to reach beyond ourselves and to engage in loving dialogue with the Creator and Savior. In one of his Easter Sunday homilies, Cardinal George spoke these words: “If the earth is our mother, then the grave is our home and the world is a closed system turned in on itself. [But] if Christ is risen from the grave and the Church is our mother, then our destiny reaches beyond space and time. Beyond what can be measured and controlled. And therein lies our hope” (Op. cit., Glorifying Christ, p. 374).
During this Month of All Souls, let us seriously reflect upon our own personal relationships with God and the primacy He holds in our lives as we strive for eternal union with Him. Let us pray constantly for our deceased loved ones, that through the mercy and compassion of Jesus they may come to enjoy the grace of eternal life in the heavenly Jerusalem, our true home. In his Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos, “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ,” His Holiness, Pope Francis, quoted St. John Paul II: “‘The whole of the Christian life is like a great pilgrimage to the house of the Father.’ This too was the experience of St. Ignatius of Antioch on his path to martyrdom: ‘In me there is left no spark of desire for mundane things, but only a murmur of living water that whispers with me, ‘Come to the Father’” (Dilexit Nos, pp. 47-48).
In this Month of All Souls, let us also pray fervently for the victims of natural disasters and the countless innocent lives lost daily in the war-torn countries throughout the world. We pray with mind, heart and soul united that our bruised, scarred and deeply wounded humanity will turn to the Author of Peace, the Savior upon the Cross, Jesus Christ,
“For He is the salvation of the world,
the life of the human race,
the resurrection of the dead” (Preface III for the Dead).
With our eyes fixed upon the Cross, we see our final destiny opening to the horizons of heaven; we gaze upon the Divine Redeemer and in humility we plead His help. The French composer, Charles Gounod, six months before his death on Oct. 18, 1893, penned an ode, “O Divine Redeemer!”, that captures the hope and desire of every person departing this earthly life and yearning to come into the presence of Christ for all eternity:
“Ah Turn me not away,
Receive me tho’ unworthy;
Hear Thou my cry,
Behold, Lord, my distress!
Answer me from thy throne
Haste Thee, Lord to mine aid,
Thy pity shew in my deep anguish!
Let not the sword of vengeance smite me,
Though righteous thine anger,
O Lord! Shield me in danger, O regard me!
On Thee, Lord, alone will I call.
O Divine Redeemer!
I pray Thee, grant me pardon,
And remember not, remember not my sins!
Forgive me, O Divine Redeemer!
Night gathers round my soul;
Fearful, I cry to Thee;
Come to mine aid, O Lord!
Haste Thee, Lord, haste to help me!
Hear my cry! Save me Lord in Thy mercy;
Come and save me O Lord
Save in the day of retribution,
From Death shield Thou me, O my God!
O Divine Redeemer, have mercy!
Help me, my Saviour! (see Glorifying Christ, pp. 361-362).
In closing, I wish you a blessed Thanksgiving at the end of this month. Not only on this day, but every day, I thank God for your fidelity to the Church as we seek renewal and restoration by acknowledging Christ as King, celebrated liturgically on Nov. 24. His is “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace” (Preface: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe).
Invoking the intercession of Our Mother Mary and St. John Fisher, our Diocesan Patron, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend
Salvatore R. Matano
Bishop of Rochester
