Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: October 25, 2015
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
The coming month of November is traditionally dedicated in the Church to prayer to and for those who have left this life. This is so because of the way the month begins: the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1 (next Sunday this year), and the Commemoration of All Souls on the next day, November 2, begin a month of remembrance of those who have gone before us.
You’ll notice I said we pray both “to” and “for” the faithful departed. That’s because in hopeful faith we know of the two broad categories into which they now exist. We pray to those who are saints, asking their intercession, for they are now in the presence of God and so are “perfectly positioned” to ask Him to aid us by His grace! We pray for those departed who are still being purified for their sins and shortcomings, that they soon enter the blessedness of heaven. (There’s nothing to be done about those who have definitively chosen to exist apart from the Lord for all eternity: in justice God will not overrule their free will.)
As an aid to our prayer here at the Cathedral we place a “Book of Remembrance” out in the church, in which you may inscribe the names of your beloved dead. All month it will be located in the Mary Chapel just to the left of the sanctuary, next to the Paschal Candle which reminds us of Jesus’ resurrection. It recalls the admonition in the Bible: “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins” (2 Macc 12:42-45).
The names inscribed therein make up our “Pur ga torial List” of persons who are remembered at every Mass and in special prayers of the faithful every Tuesday throughout the year. Long before it became fashionable to assert “Never forget!” when speaking of those who were victimized by crime, hate, prejudice, accident, negligence, terrorism or war, the Catholic Church pledged an everlasting remembrance of those “who have gone before us with the sign of faith and rest in the sleep of peace” (Eucharistic Prayer I). Nobody dies forgotten or unloved – and no one goes without being prayed-for – within our communion of saints! Do join us in that everlasting prayer whenever you are able!
Sincerely in the Lord,
