For What It's Worth by Erin

“Oh when the Saints come marching in…” Oh I want to be in that number, or so the song goes!

In November, we get a glimpse of members of those who have joined the ranks and are in the heavenly Jerusalem. How? By the banners on our church walls of course!
 
One of our beautiful traditions in November is to display the names of all parishioners we have buried in the last year. God calls each of us home to Him for reasons that only God knows. We have a wall reminder of lives lived. Fr. Dave points out that the list always has an oldest, a youngest, and lives which were “fill in your descriptor here”, and all now fully in God’s hands, bringing to completion what He began in these lives in the first place.
 
And what do we do with all this? The only thing we can do, we pray! It reminds us that our name will be on that list someday, and that compels us to live our lives well, to be the people that God created us to be. As Catholics, we pray the In Paradisum in November. It sings of our request of God for those who have died: “May the choirs of angels, come to greet you, may they speed you to paradise. May the Lord enfold you in His mercy. May you find eternal life.” This expresses well our hopes for all who have passed: those on the wall, in our Book of Remembrance, and someday, for ourselves.
 
Our #1 goal should be as we hear in the Eucharistic prayer, to be “saints among the Saints in the halls of heaven!" May that be true for all of us! Amen! +