Communication with Visitors* Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us! November 2 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, We have made November the month of remembrance. This remembrance is of a special kind. It is the remembrance of our dead, that is of all those who have preceded us through he portal of death into a new whereabouts, a whereabouts which in the course of the ages has been described in various manners which the Christian tradition names Paradise, the realm in which the deep desires of the human heart for joy, peace and untarnished bliss find their ultimate and lasting fulfillment. What a difference it is between the reception full of faith and hope which bathes our Christian catacombs and cemeteries and the furtive silence of our age on the subject of death! As the dying of the seasonal year is but preparation for the generation of new life, so let this month of the commemoration of our dead deepen our faith and inflame our hearts for the entrance into that new life beyond the grave. To paraphrase a passage from the second book of Maccabees: it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead. Yesterday we remembered those who have reached the crown of glory; this month we commemorate those who are being cleansed in preparation for their reception into the joy and blessedness of the heavenly home. Michael Lapierre, S.J. * Fr. Michael Lapierre, S.J., and the editor John Cheng are currently taking part in this column. We are taking the first two weeks off in December this year. The background hymn is a certain version of "Immaculate Mary". Thank you.
November 2
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We have made November the month of remembrance. This remembrance is of a special kind. It is the remembrance of our dead, that is of all those who have preceded us through he portal of death into a new whereabouts, a whereabouts which in the course of the ages has been described in various manners which the Christian tradition names Paradise, the realm in which the deep desires of the human heart for joy, peace and untarnished bliss find their ultimate and lasting fulfillment. What a difference it is between the reception full of faith and hope which bathes our Christian catacombs and cemeteries and the furtive silence of our age on the subject of death! As the dying of the seasonal year is but preparation for the generation of new life, so let this month of the commemoration of our dead deepen our faith and inflame our hearts for the entrance into that new life beyond the grave. To paraphrase a passage from the second book of Maccabees: it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead. Yesterday we remembered those who have reached the crown of glory; this month we commemorate those who are being cleansed in preparation for their reception into the joy and blessedness of the heavenly home.
Michael Lapierre, S.J.
* Fr. Michael Lapierre, S.J., and the editor John Cheng are currently taking part in this column. We are taking the first two weeks off in December this year. The background hymn is a certain version of "Immaculate Mary". Thank you.