Message from Bishop John
November 2024
JAMIE GUALDONI | THE U.P. CATHOLIC
Attendees of an Oct. 15, 2018 pregnancy and infant loss prayer service place candles at Rachel's Garden at Holy Cross Cemetery in Marquette. Rachel’s Garden at Holy Cross Cemetery is a memorial and burial place for infant deaths and miscarriages. It has become a place of peace for many families in the Marquette community.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
When we lose a loved one, especially someone quite close to us, we might wish that we had one more chance to express our love. We still have that opportunity. Every time we pray for someone who has died is a tender gift of love.
We believe that our prayers can help those who have died. The month of November is dedicated to prayers for the dead. Let us explore why our prayers help those who have died.
Any stone dropped in a pond of still water sends ripples cascading across the pond. The drop of a simple stone affects the whole surface of the pond. Our freely chosen actions have ripple effects as well. What we freely choose to do affects others and ourselves, for good or for ill.
In this light, we can understand that just as our acts of love enrich the lives of others and our own lives, so also our sins cause damage in the lives of others and our own.
To be completely healed of our sins requires conversion, forgiveness and the repair of the damage caused by sin. For example, some children are playing baseball in a field behind the house. The parents have a simple rule. When the children play ball, they are not to bat toward the house. Because of the angle of the sun that day, the children disobey their parents and bat toward the house. You can imagine what happens: a broken window. Though the parents forgive the children when they say they are sorry, the window is still broken and needs to be repaired. In our lives, even our venial sins damage ourselves, for they prevent us from loving God and others completely and entrap us in selfish attachments.
The repair of the damage that our sins do to ourselves has been called "the remission of the temporal punishment due to sin." Bearing the trials of this life out of love for Christ and others enlarges our hearts for the healing love of Christ to take even deeper root. Picking up our cross daily and following the Lord helps to heal us from the damage that our sins cause. Striving to grow in love of God and neighbor helps to heal the damage. If we have not been fully healed from the damage that we have done to ourselves through our sins before we die, that healing or purification takes place by the fire of God’s love in purgatory.
Here is where prayers for the dead and offering Masses for the dead comes into play. Our prayers and Masses assist our loved ones in the healing process in purgatory, that they be ready to see God face to face. Let us express our love for people who have died. Let us pray for them!
+Most Reverend John F. Doerfler
Bishop of Marquette
Bishop of Marquette
The U.P. Catholic Flocknote Newsletter
