Happy Thirty-Second Sunday!
A big Thanksgiving to Faith Yassick, our lovely choir, and members of the MSU Chamber Orchestra for last Sunday’s beautiful Requiem Mass for the Commemoration of All Souls. What a wonderful way to enter into the month of November, as the Lord invites us this month to humbly reflect and pray on the sobering reality of human mortality. Death holds a treasure trove of wisdom, ready to be revealed to us. But this wisdom remains hidden from those who needlessly fear death or who practically live in denial of it.
We have an ancient tradition in Christianity from the 6th-century Benedictine religious order, which took this practice and “baptized it” from an even earlier tradition that was popular in Roman philosophy during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Among his discourses, the philosopher Epictetus wrote of a military custom in which Roman generals, after returning home victorious in battle, would ride in victory formation with a humble servant at their side. Amidst the cheers of adulation, he would whisper to them, “Memento mori,” which means, “Remember that you must die.” It was intended to keep them humble in the knowledge that death comes to their enemies, but death comes for us all eventually. Therefore, we must not be enamored by the passing glories of the world or distracted by human praise, lest we live wastefully.
St. Benedict, with faith in the Resurrection of Christ, would baptize this wisdom and have his religious brothers greet each other with the same phrase, “Memento mori.” Seeing our lives in the light of eternity, and especially in the light of God’s plan for our lives, helps us do battle for the salvation of our souls and keeps us from sinful choices that waste the precious time we’ve been given.
At the 10:30 AM Mass last Sunday, I prayed a litany during my homily for the Holy Souls of Purgatory, which I came across a year ago. I had never seen it before, but the litany hit close to home and really helped me reflect more personally on this truth: memento mori. I, too, like all of us, must someday die and stand before the tribunal of Christ Jesus to make a full account of every thought, word, and deed I’ve ever chosen. The litany names 100 various types of people who have died and still stand before Christ in need of purification. It provides me with specific examples of virtues I can grow in and vices I still need to fight against and repent from. At the request of several people, I’ve printed this list and sent it to our editor, Teresa, for publishing in the bulletin this month. May it be helpful to you in your own prayer.
Let us not waste the precious time we’ve each been given. God our Father has loved us into being and sustains us in existence. Jesus, His Son, has died to make us powerful over death and able to enjoy eternal life with Him. The Holy Spirit has been poured into us to make our souls already a dwelling place for God. What will you and I do with these gifts? We only have so many days left. Let us encourage each other and continually recommit to the life of faith in which all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
Fr. Brian