By Fr. Justin Fulton
Fall shows off its brilliance and the beauty of nature is on full display. Foliage, football, festivals, harvest, marching bands, hayrack rides and family bring out the best smiles and laughter of life. And then at the end of October, we see leaves falling and trees becoming bare. We see life passing before our eyes. Trees are empty, the harvest is picked, and it seems death has invaded the land.
In the Church we see this in our Liturgical life as well. We celebrate the miracle of the Paschal Mystery being lived through His Church as we feast on All Saints Day. Then we pray for all deceased as we solemnly encounter All Souls Day. We are called to pray and sacrifice in a special way during November as we realize we too will return to dust. And we pray there will be others who pray for us when we depart from this earthly life.
The holidays and this time of year can get to us. We see the empty chair that Mom or Dad used to sit in at Thanksgiving. We see the empty stocking at Christmas of an uncle or aunt who has passed away. We miss Grandma’s peanut brickle as no one else quite made it the way she did. Life can sadden us… but life always brings us back to Faith, Hope, and Love.
CSS gets it. We understand people get lonesome. And we try to bring joy into their hearts with the services we provide. But we get it in a deeper way: we know the spiritual is much more potent than the physical world. We pray for those who are lonely and who do not know about Jesus and His Resurrection. And we pray for the souls of those who have passed before us.
At CSS, we have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Monday through Thursday at our offices at 22nd and O in Lincoln. All our offices in Imperial, Hastings, Lincoln, and Auburn incorporate prayer into their work day.
We invite anyone in and around Lincoln to join us in our holy hour from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. And we invite you to send in the names of beloved deceased relatives and friends as we will pray for all of them throughout November. Feel free to mail names to us at 2241 O St, Lincoln, NE, 68510.
It is an honor to bury and pray for the dead. May we all remember and love our loved ones by praying for their souls. May we live greatly on this earth…. and may the grace of Jesus Christ carry us all the way to the Halls of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Thank you for your support of CSS and may God bless us always!
