Pentecost XXII
✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
The Irish folklore is that on All Hallows Eve (Samhain) the Summer dies, the Winter arrives. That certainly seems to be our experience this year, with the cold and the wind. We are thankful the weather moderated into typical November fare, but still looking for just a few mild sweet Autumn days before the cold comes to stay. We’re also hoping for dry weather for our Rosary cemetery procession.
I write this early, on Tuesday, as I’m packing for my Brazil trip. It’s late Spring there, and they’re calling for warm weather and rain. I’ve got Clerical Tonsure and Minor Orders scheduled for Saturday, and Subdiaconate and Confirmation on Sunday. Also, lots of visits and discussions with priests (some are coming from Argentina) over the five days of my visit. It’s a long flight south to Brazil, but not so long as last month’s trip to the Philippines.
All Saints and All Souls went well, and inspired, I think, a really great All Saints Sunday. The first Sunday in November has become a kind of “Family Sunday” for us, with its children’s procession and many visitors, who also filled Helfta Hall for the unfailingly charming program of the little, and not so little saints.
Recognition is due to devoted mothers who prepared imaginative and well executed costumes, as well as the saint’s story to be memorized…or not. A great time was had by all. Special thanks are due the Sisters who, as Fr. Cekada noted, devised simple skits so as to include all of the children, including older ones or those without costumes. Thanks to the benefactor who provided the mic. Thanks to you for coming and supporting our “Family Sunday.” And don’t forget the great party, and the treats for the children who couldn’t come.
Fr. McGuire is preaching today, and also leading the afternoon Rosary Procession to St. Joseph’s Cemetery. They hope to visit the graves of Katie Bischak and her mother, Catherine, and others of our own as well. Come if you can.
Fr. Cekada is teaching this week at the seminary. Fr. Lehtoranta will be teaching at the school and offering Mass, as usual. He will also be in charge of feeding Puccini, who is now wearing a handsome winter coat. A curious cat, he. Although he often visits the convento in the course of the year, when the rectory is empty of cat care givers he loyally fasts and waits at my gates until he gets really hungry, then goes off to see the young Fathers. For a cat, he greets me rather warmly when I return.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We should lament the waste, the tragedy of our useless wars, even as we remember in devout prayer our military, and the many innocent victims of war. Say a Rosary, and remember that war is a punishment for sin, as Our Lady said at Fatima.
To help us remember, we keep that nice custom of 11-11-11, with the tolling of the bell on St. Martin’s Day, and another Absolution at the Catafalque. The dead are soon forgotten. But do thou remember.
Remember Jesus in the Tabernacle, Prisoner of Love. Our Lord has very few friends, St. Theresa said. That is why we must be good ones!
God bless you,
Bishop Dolan