Before I celebrate Mass in the parish, I always check the copy of the bulletin we keep in the sacristy to see what the Mass intention is. Every Mass we celebrate - that any priest celebrates - is offered for a particular intention; in the parish, these usually come from the people who request Masses for deceased loved ones. In our bulletin, alongside who the Mass is offered for, we list the names of the people who requested the Mass.
This week I went into the church and, as usual, the first thing I do after unlocking the door and turning on the lights, I went to check the Mass intention.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about who the Mass was for - what caught my attention was who had offered it: it was a married couple, but the wife had died recently; in fact, I celebrated her funeral.
Here I was offering Mass for one of the faithful departed - at the request of one of the faithful departed. And, for us as Catholics, that's not weird.
The Church isn't just the group of people who are gathered in the church building that day. It's also not just all the Catholics on the planet. The Church is all of us here on earth as well as our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us.
Our prayers and sacrifices are connected - we're still connected. Though we can't see our deceased brothers and sisters, they're still part of this great family.
2 comments:
I love the connection. I have a friend who lost her son 5 years ago and she says she cannot go to Mass, because all she does is cry. I feel so sad for her, because like you said, it's at Mass where I feel we can be the absolute closest to the deceased during our earthly lives. Thank God for our faith! And thank you for your 'yes' to God in serving all of us, His people.
Thanks for reading, Jo!
I've met people who have a hard time at Mass as well. It brings up memories of funerals, etc.
But it can also be very healing when we realize that our connections don't end with death.
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