Each
year, on the Sunday following The Feast of All Saints, in the time normally
given to a homily, we remember all who have died in the past one hundred and
thirty-two years throughout the history of St. Andrew. It is a tradition made
possible by technology. Like the credits following a film, hundreds of names
pass before our eyes in a litany of remembrance. Following the presentation
there is a sense of awe as the people with whom life
was shared, and now separated by death, are drawn together again in the
sanctuary on the Feast of All Saints.
It is a powerful act to remember the beloved
dead in the context of sacred ritual. Their lives, their contributions, the
myriad of memories return simply by seeing their name scrolled before your
eyes. A person’s name, spelled out to see, becomes a sacrament. It is the
physical manifestation of the immense invisible grace, love, and dignity that
was a person’s life. Beholding the multitude of names representing over a
century of shared and inherited parish community, is a holy and profound
moment.
It is healthy and transformative spirituality
that remains in communion with those who have walked and lived before us even
while being fully present in the time that is ours. Everything we have and
experience is because of the prayers and work of those who have gone before us.
It is important to remember those who have given their lives, either as
teachers and parents or for heroic social change. Our own lives and society
become more significant and precious when we remember the sacrifices, the
investments, the hard work, and even the martyred lives of persons who lived
the lives of faith, hope, and love in their own day.
Let the days of November be filled with a
sense of gratitude and awe for all the saints whose lives were lived so that
our lives could be better. They inspire us, they enrich us, and they pray for
us. Still.
Fr. Richard
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