To mark the month dedicated to All Souls, I will be celebrating Mass at two Catholic cemeteries in Richmond for the first time — Mount Calvary, Saturday, Nov. 6, 9:30 a.m. and Holy Cross, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2 p.m. In years to come, I hope to celebrate All Souls Masses at other Catholic cemeteries in our diocese.
Many Catholics are buried in these cemeteries. At Holy Cross, there is a row of graves for the religious sisters who ministered to Spanish flu patients during the early 1900s. Mount Calvary is the resting place of two of my episcopal predecessors, Bishops Augustine van de Vyver and Denis J. O’Connell, the sixth and seventh bishops, respectively, of our diocese.
All Souls is an appropriate time to remember the dead and to pray for all who have gone before us in faith. We use that day and this month to highlight and for recollection of those who have gone before us. Those recollections were foremost in my mind as I was writing this column on the first anniversary of my mother’s death.
We reflect on them as we remember all the wonderful ways they interacted with us, helped us and gave examples of goodness and holiness. Those memories, punctuated with “Remember when…” moments, become more vivid and more strengthened over time. They are an indication that whatever faults individuals may have had, they are certainly assured of the grace and prayers to be on their way to enjoy full life with God in his kingdom.
As we focus upon All Souls, we pray that what might have hindered the deceased’s pursuit of holiness, and for which the Gospel is our path, is addressed through the purification all of us need — and will need. It is through purgatory that the residue of human weakness and our venial sins are purged from our souls and we are assured of the full life with God in the presence of his beatific vision.
In praying for the deceased whose words, works and example made a positive impact upon our life, we are reminded that we remain united with them in the Communion of Saints. We pray that our Lord sees the good they have done in being true to the Gospel and rewards them with fullness of eternal life.
Our friends and loved ones in cemeteries are part of the hidden Communion of Saints who intercede for us. They are saints we don’t see and who are not part of the liturgical calendar, but we know them because we recognize the holiness and love they showed us in our encounters. They were the presence of Christ for us.
A couple of years ago, I celebrated Mass in Rome at the tomb of Frank Parater — a native of our diocese, an Eagle Scout and an alumnus of Benedictine College Prep who died of rheumatic fever in 1920, two months after beginning seminary studies at the North American College. In a spiritual testament discovered after he died, he offered his life for the sanctification of people throughout Virginia. He is an example of saints we may not have known, but whose life can continue to impact our faith.
When I walk or jog past Mount Calvary, Riverview and Hollywood cemeteries, I often pray the rosary for all of the faithful buried there. When I pass any cemetery, I do what has been a long-held Catholic practice — say an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for the happy repose of their souls. It is a good practice for all of us.
At the conclusion of his homily during the first All Saints Day Mass he celebrated as pope, Pope Francis said:
“Today, before evening falls, each one of us can think of the twilight of life: ‘What will my passing away be like?’ All of us will experience sundown, all of us! Do we look at it with hope? Do we look with that joy at being welcomed by the Lord? This is a Christian thought that gives us hope.
“Today is a day of joy; however, it is serene and tranquil joy, a peaceful joy. Let us think about the passing away of so many of our brothers and sisters who have preceded us, let us think about the evening of our life, when it will come. And let us think about our hearts and ask ourselves: ‘Where is my heart anchored?’
“If it is not firmly anchored, let us anchor it beyond, on that shore, knowing that hope does not disappoint because the Lord Jesus does not disappoint.”
As we commemorate All Saints and All Souls this month, let us hold fast to that hope which sustains us in this life and which carries us into eternal life.