30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

My Dear Parishioners,

Today marks the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time as we gather to celebrate the Lord’s Day! The Gospel Acclamation for the Mass is “Our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.” In the Gospel the Lord Jesus brings the blind man Bartimaeus out of his physical darkness and into the light of faith. The days are becoming shorter and the darkness longer as we enter into the winter season. We are also nearing the conclusion of the 2015 liturgical year and with that come eschatological themes which speak to us of death and the coming of the Lord Jesus in glory.

Next Sunday we will commemorate the Solemnity of All Saints and on Monday, November 2nd, the Feast of All Souls. We now enter into that final time in the liturgical year in which we remember the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The side altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary is once again the place where the Book of the Dead is located and the receptacle where the All Souls Remembrance envelopes may be deposited. I invite you to come to this place to remember and pray for your departed loved ones. Our remembrance and prayers are acts of love for those who have gone before us. These are important acts of faith which assist the faithful departed on their way to heaven. They depend on our prayers and sacrificial acts for their heavenly journey.

This is always a wonderful pastoral opportunity to remind the faithful of the importance of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the departed. The giving of a mass card to the family of the newly departed is an act of faith and love. Visiting the grave of a loved one to pray for the departed is also our religious tradition. I hope that you might join with me next Sunday afternoon at 1:30 in the St. Cecilia cemetery, where many of our Sacred Heart Parishioners are buried, for the All Souls service. On Monday evening, November 2nd, we will pray the Rosary following the celebration of the Holy Mass for the faithful departed and in particular all those who have died this past year.

May the Lord continue to bless you for your good words and works!
Father Zig