Advent is a perfect time for raising the bar concerning our Mass participation. It is sometimes pretty easy to slip into a routine concerning weekly Mass that doesn’t involve our whole selves in the celebration. It is too easy to slip into a passive mode like watching TV or going to a movie. In the case of Mass participation, however, our active participation is most beneficial. When we carefully watch and listen, get involved in the standing, kneeling and sitting and processing, and when we actively attend to our neighbor’s presence, something really remarkable happens. We live, if only for one hour a week, in “Ritual Time”. Ritual Time takes us out of ordinary time and connects us powerfully with the past and the future even as we live in a present time. We remember past great events in our faith history as we listen to Sacred Scripture and we participate in the passion, death and resurrection of Christ and all that accomplishes for us: freedom from sin, an in-rushing of grace and a spiritual transformation through Holy Communion.
Advent’s violet colors remind us that something new is going on. This something new asks of us an openness to forgiveness, change and an anticipation of a future that saves us as our long awaited Messiah comes in a manger to set us free.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
Our annual parish Gala and Auction is a wonderful evening of fun and community. It is our one main parish fundraising event and provides us with necessary financial resources to aid our parish and school. Each of our classes in the school creates special auction projects that have an inestimable value. It takes many hands and much energy to make this event a success and I want to thank all who have made it such. In addition to providing a delicious banquet and refreshments, dancing and socializing, our Gala Auction gives us all an opportunity to express our love for our parish and school through generous faith based charity. Even if we don’t win the main prize, we can take satisfaction in the good that our generosity will make possible. I think that in all of our efforts there is surely both an earthly and eternal blessing. Kudos to Diane, Deborah, Wendy and all others who made this Jingle Bell Ball a melody not to be forgotten even without snow, reindeer, sleighs or Santa’s Ho Ho Ho.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
What does it mean to acknowledge Christ as Our King? He was never an earthly king and always refused the honors and privilege of being one. Rather He ruled through example, love and forgiveness. He came into our world to teach us how to live differently and with a higher purpose. He taught us that we are all of equal worth, dignity and value in God’s eyes. His Kingdom is a vision of a world that is a true loving community in which respect, love, forgiveness and mercy are the hallmarks. Most of all to acknowledge Christ as Our King is to accept His love and friendship and to let it guide us to an Eternal Kingdom.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
Often Jesus teaches us about the value of thanksgiving. At the heart of the Our Father is a sincere response of thanksgiving for all that God has blessed us with: gift of life, health, purpose in life and the graces necessary to accomplish it. Every time we pray we should make it a prayer of thanksgiving for truly we are all recipients of God’s generosity. We are also reminded that as we say “Thank you” for gifts received, we acknowledge the responsibility to be generous ourselves with that which we have been given.
Our national celebration of Thanksgiving reminds us of kindnesses and assistance given to our Pilgrim ancestors whose very life was a gift from the Native Americans who protected them and fed them in the face of
starvation. When we enjoy our festive meal, we can also share of its abundance as we reach out with concern and material assistance to the poor and starving throughout the world. Thanksgiving truth is to acknowledge all we have received and an opportunity to use it to accomplish great good in a troubled world.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
Each year, on November 11, we celebrate Veterans Day as a National Holiday. The celebration grew out of the Armistice Day memorial that marked the end of World War I, on November 11, 1918. President Dwight Eisenhower, in 1954, proclaimed Veterans Day a day of remembrance of all who served in the armed services and as a complementary remembrance to Memorial Day which specifically honors all those who died in military service. Every year, at 11:00 on November 11, at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, a color guard representing all of the military services executes “Present Arms” and the presidential wreath is laid upon the tomb to the sound of taps.
As is the case with all memorials, it is important to keep reminding ourselves why we are celebrating. In the case of Memorial Day, we are remembering and honoring the bravery and courage of all veterans who in wartime and peacetime risked their lives in defense of our country and our ideals and values. I think that President Eisenhower expressed the meaning of this Veterans Day very powerfully when he wrote:
…”it is well for us to pause, to acknowledge our debt to those who paid so large a share of freedom’s price. As we stand here in grateful remembrance of the veteran’s contributions we renew our conviction of individual responsibility to live in ways that support the eternal truths upon which our Nation is founded, and from which flows all its strength and all its greatness”
Today we are perhaps more aware than at any recent time of the cost carried by the veterans of our country and their families. We read of the many problems with re-entry into civilian life, of health problems, financial problems and family stress. There are also accounts of veterans feeling unappreciated, misunderstood and disrespected and the well-documented examples of inadequate healthcare and benefits never received.
As people of faith and compassion, it seems to me that we have an important responsibility to live our American ideals and values in such way as to insure the strength of our Democratic Republic and its role in the world. Our veterans have shown us the way in the past. Soldiers today are responding to terrorism, health epidemics, tyranny, and threats to peace in a similar courageous way. We owe them our support and prayers.
May God bless and keep all of our veterans and their families.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw
During early November, we celebrate with great joy All of the Saints (November 1) who have graced the church over the centuries with their courage and witness. They are all of the Unnamed Saints that have used the gifts and graces of God to accomplish great holiness and spiritual maturity. Some of this August group may have even been our own family members who left us a marvelous legacy of virtue and good works. We know that not all saints can be officially recognized by the church but we are equally sure that they look over us and support us by their prayers. We are in safe hands and carried through trials by the army of All Saints.
We also remember all of our Beloved Dead during early November when we commemorate the Feast of All Souls (November 2). Here too we remember family members who have passed over into eternal life and now rest in the Lord. We remember all that they taught us and how much their love helped us grow and accomplish good works. On November 2, every year at Saint Joan of Arc, we hold a beautiful and heartfelt ceremony honoring all of our loved ones who have died. Pictures of those who have died during the year are prominently placed on the sanctuary steps and we are surrounded by their holy presence. As we reverently read their names we light candles to remind us how their example lights our way and illuminates our world. There is perhaps no other liturgy that so perfectly captures the grief and the joy of our faith as does All Souls. Together we mourn and together we rejoice in their passage into eternal life and their ongoing presence as our comforters and heroes.
Saint Joan of Arc has a very helpful program called “Harvesting Our Tears” that provides group support and fellowship for persons who have lost a family member. Prayerful meetings and discussions assist grieving parishioners during their period of bereavement and recovery. Please pray for our facilitators and participants in “Harvesting Our Tears”.
May All Saints Day inspire us and may All Souls Day remind us of the mercy and saving grace of God. We are also to remember and honor the dead by keeping their stories and accomplishments alive in the quality of our Christian life.
-Msgr. Michael D. McGraw