November 1, 2014
This time of year, our
thoughts turn more and more to the place we call home.
Holidays are coming up.
There are gatherings around
the family table.
Home is our destination
again and again.
We’re drawn to the bright
light that offers us comfort and warmth, especially during this cold part of
the year.
But home is not just brick
and mortar.
It is also people.
It is the arms that hold
you.
The shoulders you lean on.
The people who share your
joys and your tears — the ones who pray with you and for you, even after you
are gone.
We are all a part of that –
a community, a communion.
Yesterday, we celebrated
the communion of saints.
Today, we honor a communion
of souls.
Many are closer than we
realize.
Just think about it.
They are in the stories we
tell, and the jokes we share.
They are in the recipes
we’ve saved, advice we’ve remembered, shortcuts we’ve taken, ornaments we’ve
wrapped in tissue and saved to hang on the tree.
The people we pray for
today are in a thousand small details that together make up the world we know.
They are memory.
They are life.
They are my mother and
father.
They are our neighbors and
friends.
They are parishioners we
all knew and loved.
.
These are among the souls
we remember and pray for this day – our communion of souls.
They are worth remembering, and cherishing,
and celebrating.
The Church refers to them
as “the departed,” as if they were on a train that has left the station.
Maybe that says it best.
They have finished their
earthly journey, and reached another destination.
We hope that they made it
safely.
And we pray that one day we
will join them, in that place of warmth and light, that place we all call home.
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