Voting Today

I don't live in Maryland anymore. Yet if I did, I'd vote NO on Question #6.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl (Bishop of part of Maryland explains)

"Marriage is a private relationship with a public significance. In the human love that brings a woman and a man to marriage, we already hear God speaking to us of the beauty and fidelity of love, its transforming power, and its creative energy. In the sacrament of matrimony, God speaks to us of a fullness of human love. Our limited experience of love is only a sign and beginning of love that changes us into children of God, who share his own wondrous and unending life in love."

Read the rest here.

A Prescription for True Joy

They are happy who dwell in your house,
for ever singing your praise.
They are happy, whose strength is in you,
in whose hearts are the road to Zion.

-Psalm 84, Longing for God's Temple
Today's Morning Prayer

(Can I just say sheepishly, I can't believe I ever complained that I "never get anything out of the dusty Psalms" when I started out as a Carmelite. When I pray them now, its poetry that is clear and seems so relevant to whatever is going on in my life.  If you're struggling with praying the Liturgy of the Hours, keep going. It's like Tennis. It gets easier and so much more fun with a little practice.)

A New Christmas CD- The Benedictines of Mary "Advent at Ephesus" EPK

Angela Faddis Funeral Homily by Fr John Parks

On All Souls Day, this is a powerful homily offered earlier this fall for a 32 year old mother who died of cancer. Life for all of us is too short. Our Faith matters. Prayers always help!

Our Need to Bury the Dead

All Souls Day is a day that we pray for the dead-- a spiritual act of mercy.

I'm also concerned about a vanishing tradition of the corporal act of mercy--burying the dead. 

Did you guys watch the Sheen movie "St. Jame's Way?" It's about a Catholic Father coming to terms with the tragic death of his only son by hiking the traditional pilgrimage path in the Spanish Mountains. All during this movie, I'm gasping because the Father takes the ashes of his son and "scatters" them on the path.

This is not Catholic.

Catholics allow for cremation, however, the ashes of a body are holy and worthy of respect. They are supposed to be buried in the same dignity as a body. That means in the ground, or in one of those special vaults at a cemetery.  

Yet we are surrounded by a culture of paganism. The worse practice in Ancient Greece was to destroy the body of an enemy and "scatter the ashes to the wind." Now, we are in a place where taking a beloved grandfather, parent or child and "scattering their ashes" is seen as a good thing.

In the alternative, some grieving parents and children hold onto a loved one's ashes until they find the "perfect" burial spot. They can't bury their child right now because they will be moving soon, or can't afford a nice enough spot, or just aren't ready to drop a loved one in the cold hard ground and walk away. Those people have dead that remain unburied.

I truly get that death "sucks." It is not easy to leave someone you love in the ground. 

God's ways, however, are not our ways. God's ways are supernatural, because they are hard, but also because they are "healing." My husband and I have experience the healing that came from burying our son and burying his father.

In our culture, it's become hip to say "anything goes." "Oh you're grieving man, whatever brings you comfort." The Church, however, is our trusted Mother. She knows best. She urges us to do better.

Today, if there is someone that you love who still has the ashes of a dead loved one in their home, or who has plans to "scatter her ashes on Mount Kilimanjaro", pray for her. Then love her enough to tell her the truth.

Tobit, pray for us!

Reference: Catechism of the Catholic Church 2300- "The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy; it honors the children of God, who are temples of the Holy Spirit.

2301-The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

All Souls Day

Did you know Catholics are some of the only Christians who pray for the dead?

When I was a Methodist, I'd go to funerals and the minister would lead us in prayers for the family--- there was never any mention of praying for the soul of deceased. We assumed that he or she was already rejoicing in Heaven. (The concept of Purgatory doesn't really exist in United Methodist Circles). I don't think my Protestant upbringing was unusual in this regard.

So that means on All Souls Day, we have Catholics have an extra duty to pray for the dead! Today, if you visit a church you have a chance for a Plenary Indulgence. There are also special indulgences attached to visiting a cemetery from Nov 1 to Nov 8.

Do a bunch, and then hit Confession this Saturday. Take your kids!

Happy All Saints Day

I believe the right Saints "find" you, and your are blessed forever by their affectionate, and personal friendship. Just a smattering of my good Saint friends.

Mary, the Mother of God             Crispian                                      John Paul II
Teresa of Avila                            Elizabeth of the Trinity                Mother Teresa
the Little Flower                          Louise and Zele Martin                Jesuit Martyrs of North Amer.
John of the Cross                        Francis of Assisi                           Uganda Martyrs
John of God                               Clare of Assisi                               Mother Cabrini
Luke                                          Elizabeth Ann Seton                      Bonaventure
Peter                                         Kateri Tekakwitha                         Anthony of Padua
Paul                                          Jude                                             Mary Magdalene
Gerard                                       King Louis of France                     Elizabeth of Hungary

Hope some of my bff friends find their way into your heart too this year!