When the saints…
Great minds ….
This is how I ended my homily yesterday:
And this is the second great truth that these days remind us of. That the horizon of our Christian vision, the horizon of our hope, extends beyond this life, beyond the grave, to a completion in the full expansion and full enjoyment of the life we have been given already to live in faith, hope and love. We live it in faith and not by sight, wishing one day to see what we now believe. We live it in hope, wishing one day to possess in its full reality what we now possess only in hope. Already, however, we live it in love, the only one of the three great Christian virtues that will survive when all the citizens of God’s holy City are gathered in. Love will define that City: God’s love achieving its final purpose in the love that makes that “great multitude which no man can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev 7:9), and from every age from the beginning of creation until its consummation, makes them one in the joyful possession of God, the full realization of the communion of holy things, the full, perfect communion of the saints. We should all be singing: “, Lord, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in!”
And this is from the Pope’s remarks at the Angelus on All Saints Day:
On this day we feel revived in us the attraction toward heaven that urges us to quicken the steps of our earthly pilgrimage. We feel our hearts enkindled with the desire to be united with the family of the saints to which we already have the grace of belonging. As a famous spiritual says: “Oh, Lord, I long to be in that number when the saints come marching in!” May this beautiful aspiration burn in all Christians and help them to overcome any difficulty, any fear, any distress. Dear friends, let us put our hands in the maternal hand of Mary, queen of all the saints, and allow her to guide us towards the heavenly homeland, in the company of all the blessed spirits “from every nation, people and language” (Rev 7:9).
In case you’re wondering how the line was rendered in Italian, here it is: “Quando verrà la schiera dei tuoi santi, oh come vorrei, Signore, essere tra loro!” Loses something in translation, perhaps.
P.S. I swear that I hadn’t read the Pope’s remarks before writing my sermon. At our church we didn’t sing that spiritual, but we did sing “Shall we gather at the river,” a hymn that many wrongly think is talking about going down to a river for baptisms, when it’s talking about the great “River that flows from the throne of God” through the holy city of the new Jerusalem (see Rev 22:1-2), so it’s another eschatologically oriented hymn.
Who knew the pope was into American spirituals?
Fr. Komonchak, you reminded me of a line from the rite of Baptism — the end of the prayer that accompanies the presentation of the baptismal candle. “When the Lord comes, may (s)he go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” Sort of the reverse image, I guess. Something about that image makes me tear up no matter how many times I hear it.
Plagiarizing part of the Pope’s remarks, Fr. Komomchak! Very gutsy move. :)
I enjoyed the excerpt from your sermon. If you ever have the urge to become an itinerant preacher, I hope you’ll visit my parish. To thank you, I’ll take you to a Yankees game. Not quite the “full, perfect communion of the saints,” but close. ;)
Sorry for misspelling your name. Two Yankee games instead of one to make amends.
Joe, I’ll take you to two Mets games if you skip the Yanks.
Full disclosure: I am a Chicago White Sox fan.
I’ll take the Yankee game and let Joe preach the later Mass. Unless someone is
offering the ggggggggggmen, for which I presume Grant rightly has the utmost respect and now knows what shock and awe really mean.
Bravo, Santita! Would that we had such preaching…from either of your Holinesses.
The Italian rendering makes me cringe. But did either you or B16 do a Satchmo rendering?
I’ll check YouTube…
PS: The Communion of Yankess Saints is now in the parking lot, site of the old Stadium. Can’t just up and move a temple like that.
This is why it’s so great that the Pope has ghostwriters. In the sky. In the skybox.
The Church rightly prays for children lost to abortion during Respect for Life observations, often with special services and devotions.
So may I break the levity for just a moment with my annual request that parishes and clergy set aside a few moments on All Souls Day (Nov. 2) to remember and pray for the souls those lost through miscarriage and stillbirth?
Sadly, the Church tells us we can only hope these little ones will march in with the saints, and I know so many women who carry that grief around in silence.
What a wonderful homily. St. Benedict also tells us about singing.
“‘Sing praises wisely’ (Ps. 46:8)
and ‘In the sight of the Angels,
I will sing praise to You’ (Ps. 13[14]7:1).
Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves
in sight of God and of His Angels,
and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way
that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.”
(Rule of St. Benedict, From Chapter 15)
The frivolity first: Mr. Collier: When I was in seventh grade, I was judged to be one of the best altar boys in Rockland County. The prize I won was two weeks at Camp Hayes, a camp run by the archdiocese at St. Joseph’s Lake near Monticello. It was my first time away from home, and I was pretty homesick. My comment about it was that second prize was four weeks at Camp Hayes. That’s a little bit how I feel about the prospect of two Yankee games. But thanks for the thought.
But to Jean Raber’s post: A couple of years ago, one of my sisters told me about a young woman who had just miscarried twins; she asked me if there were some prayers or blessings I could send her. I was surprised to learn that we didn’t then have any blessing or rite for women who have suffered this loss. I don’t know if there’s one now, but there ought to be one.
Francesca Murphy, theologian at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, published an article entitled “Bre’r Rabbit Christology” in which, making use of some of James Cones’ reflections, she writes about the soteriology of Negro spirituals, how, for example, they speak of the way the devil gets tricked by Christ just as the fox gets tricked when Bre’r Rabbit begs not to be thrown into the briar patch. When he was still a Marxist (I believe), Eugene Genovese in his book, “Roll, Jordan, Roll,” argued that it was their Christianity that permitted the slaves in the South to preserve any sense of their worth, gave them some freedom even. Among them, surely, were the eschatological hymns like “When the Saints Go Marching In,” with the biblical imagery explicit.
I think also of one that I learned of only recently:
We shall walk through the valley of the shadow of death;
we shall walk through the valley in peace.
If Jesus himself shall be our leader,
we shall walk through the valley in peace.
There will be no sorrowing there;
there will be no sorrowing there.
If Jesus himself shall be our leader
we shall walk through the valley in peace.
We will see our brother over there;
we will see our brother over there.
If Jesus himself shall be our leader,
we shall walk through the valley in peace.
As for the Saints marching in, there is, of course, no canonical text. But here’s one version, with verses most of us have never heard:
We are traveling in the footsteps
Of those who’ve gone before
But we’ll all be reunited
On a new and sunlit shore
Oh when the Saints go marching in
When the Saints go marching in
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the Saints go marching in
And when the sun refuse to shine
And when the sun refuse to shine
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the Saints go marching in
When the moon turns red with blood
When the moon turns red with blood
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the Saints go marching in
On that hallelujah day
On that hallelujah day
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the Saints go marching in
Oh when the trumpet sounds the call
Oh when the trumpet sounds the call
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the Saints go marching in
Some say this world of trouble
Is the only one we need
But I’m waiting for that morning
When the new world is revealed
When the revelation comes
When the revelation comes
Oh Lord I want to be in that number
When the Saints go marching in
Thank you, Father Joseph.
Thanks so much, Father Komonchak, for sharing your All Saints homily. It was a tender, beautiful, and poetic expression of our Catholic belief in the Communion of Saints. I take great comfort in the “cloud of witnesses” of those we have loved in life whom the Lord has called to Himself who surround us at every moment.
EWTN, not a site I visit much, I admit, has a blessing for parents after stillbirth or miscarriage. I have never heard of it being used in the RC Church. Here it is. Not sure where it comes from or if it’s “kosher” to use. If it is, I hope it gets used more often.
http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/miscarriage.htm
FWIW – I think I’ve mentioned here before that my wife and I have lost several babies before birth. The first time it happened, the hospital chaplain was so caring and warm and sympathetic that I still well with tears remembering it. I don’t think we had a blessing, but just want to mention that there are people in hospitals doing vital spiritual/pastoral work to help those going through the tragedy of miscarriage.
Jim, I think that’s so important for people to have that kind of immediate help, and I’m glad you and your wife received it. I wish more priests could be persuaded to take this seriously.
Most of us get sent home with that grief bottled up to well-meaning family and friends who say it was probably all for the best, you can try again–all of which is a covert way of denying that anything bad happened.
When our son was born, one well-wisher congratulated me on finally having a “happy ending.” I know she meant well. Certainly, I feel grateful for the life of my son. But one happy ending does not wipe out the other sad ones.
Sorry for being personal here. But I think this is an issue local parishes could do better with.
I think this is an issue local parishes could do better with.
Very true. Thanks for the reminder, Jean.
Hi, Jean, here’s one tidbit for the upcoming bishops’ meeting:
“Other action items include votes on … the Order for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb”
I’m not aware of this – must be a new thing. Sounds like an official liturgical rite – more than a blessing in the Book of Blessings. Anyone know?