Cathedral Family,
This week brings two of the most hopeful feasts of the year: All Saints Day, followed by All Souls Day. Both of these days recall the fact that we are going somewhere. We have an ultimate destiny and its not here. We are made for communion with God, now and for all eternity.
All Saints Day recall the millions of souls throughout history who have “fought the good fight” “have run the race” and have been awarded the “crown of life,” as St. Paul so eloquently puts it. All Saints Day is the “festival of heaven.” We recall that heaven is our true home and we are homesick until we get there. God puts in our heart the longing for Him and Jesus promised that He was going away “to prepare a place for us,” that where He is, He will come back and take us with Him so that where He is, we may also be.” So as we celebrate All Saints---we recall that we are supposed to be on that road to sanctity. How is that going? We must take seriously the invitations that God generously pours out to each of us. Repentance, humility, generosity, faithfulness---flow from a life joined with God’s mercy and love. We also call to mind that we do not walk the road to life alone---All the Saints walk with us. Our patron Saints journey with us---St. Francis of Assisi—watches over us in a special way since we belong to his Cathedral parish here in Metuchen. May all the holy ones intercede for us and remind us that all the adversity and difficulties of life are all worth it—remaining to strive every day for holiness of life until we one day see God face to face and all of our loved ones gathered there too.
The following day is All Souls Day—this is the celebration where we pray for our beloved dead. Since we have no assurance that any of us will have done our final purification from past sins and have perfectly loved God throughout out life---Purgatory is a doctrine of our faith—that assures us that God provides us in His mercy to be purified of any imperfections of our character from past sins---when we die in His graces---and after a time of “purgation” we are then able to join in the bright fullness of heaven! The Church has always taught that it is our obligation to pray and offer personal sacrifices for the souls in purgatory---as they cannot do anything for themselves---to but must rely upon the help of others. One day we too may well need the prayers and sacrifices of others to prepare us for heaven.
We continue to pray throughout the month of November in all of our masses for the poor souls in purgatory. The offering of Holy Mass is one of the most beneficial of all prayers we can offer for our loved ones. When we have a mass offered for a loved one, it does more than be a reminder to us of their memory---but it actually has spiritual power to cleanse them and help them get to heaven!
A powerful prayer to help those in need is the Hail Mary---we turn to our Blessed Mother and ask her to intercede for us –now and at the hour of our death.
I want to encourage you to spend more time in prayer. Especially prayer before the Holy Eucharist. Our Adoration Chapel is open throughout the week from 8:30 until 5:00 pm. It is an ideal place to bring out heart before Jesus the King---who hears and is close to us in all things. The more we honor and adore Him, the more we discover His blessings all around us.
This next week end we will welcome a seminarian, Mr. Luke Fuller who has this fall begun his studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange. Luke is a native of Sayreville and attended Rutgers University for his undergraduate degree. Luke will come for some week-ends as well as the holiday breaks to live with us here at the Cathedral Rectory, help out at our masses, and learn about parish life. We are so blessed to have a seminarian assigned to us this year and I ask you please pray for him and I know you will make him very welcome in our beautiful Cathedral Community.
As the season grows darker as fall will shift into winter---all the prayers of the Church are going to focus on “staying awake!” Spiritually---knowing that God is close. He is speaking to your heart.
Have a beautiful week!
In Jesus,
Father Christy