Dear Friends,
Two of my favorite days are here: All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. (We celebrate All Souls Day here at Saint Miriam on the Sunday nearest the feast day so that together as a parish family we can remember all of our loved ones who have gone before us and pray for them and pray with them.)
Yes, pray with them. That is one of the most beautiful and consoling truths of the Mass. Every time we are here for Eucharist, every time we gather around the Table of the Lord, we are joined by all the angel choirs of heaven, all the Saints living in glory, and all our deceased loved ones who are somewhere on their ongoing journey into God. All of them are present! All of them are here with us.
You see, when we celebrate Eucharist, the veil is lifted, the apparent separation between Heaven and Earth is removed and we are all one, feasting together on the life-giving love of God which comes to us through Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen from the dead.
Think of it: As the priest raises the consecrated host, the Apostles—impetuous Peter and doubting Thomas and all the rest of the crew—are right here with us. As the priest kneels after placing the host back on the altar, foul-mouthed Saint Jerome and stubborn Teresa of Avila join us at the table. When the cup of Blood is lifted up, Philip Neri is right there, uproarious with joy as always. And as the cup is placed down on the altar, your dear mom, your dad who sometimes drove you crazy, your friend who always kept you laughing, your child who survived only hours outside the womb—all of them are here with us at the altar; all of us are there with them in glory! And all of us are doing the same thing, each in our own way: we are feasting on Love.
We look to the Saints—those canonized and those “sine nomine”, without name, some of our own family and friends and acquaintances and co-workers– as models of perseverance in the life of faith, as they cheer us on every step of the way to the Banquet prepared for all God’s children.
We pray with and for all of those who are still journeying into the fullness of God, buoying each other up with mutual love and support.
And here at the Eucharist, with everyone present, we get a foretaste– sometimes delicious, sometimes subtle–of what is to come: children of every race, creed and color, gathered together in justice and peace, beyond the limits of time, singing and dancing and laughing and feasting on sumptuous Love for ever and ever.
And we’re fed here to help make it happen.
All Saints and All Souls, pray for us!
Pace e bene,
Father Liam