Time for Eternity: Weekly Message for 11-05-2019

Dear Friends in Christ, 

November is a time of the year when we particularly remember the souls of the departed. The month opens with All Saints’, quickly followed by the sobering All Souls’ commemoration. 

In much of the upper Northern Hemisphere, nature reflects that sobering character, as the days grow shorter, the chill bites deeper. 

Sobering, too, has been the news this year. Tensions within the Church and among nations; political dogfights; calamities man-made and natural – all have been a reminder that hopes for a paradise here below will remain unfulfilled. 

This is one reason why the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory is such a tonic. It helps us to stand back from the madding crowd of the world and focus on things eternal. 

Praying for the dead helps to remind us that the peace which loved ones sought in this world can only be found in the next. 

Praying for the dead also helps to remind us that the peace we seek won’t be found in an ideology or a political leader. Much less will it be found with an Internet browser. 

So can we find any peace in this world? Yes … so long as it’s on Our Lord’s terms. “My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (John 14:27). 

What does that peace look like? It means learning to find solace in prayer, to relish the reading of Scripture, in caring for the people around us, in being grateful for the basic necessities of life. “If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that” (1 Timothy 6:8). 

To focus on what’s everlasting, you might find our Retreat Guide “The Mystery of Eternal Love” helpful. 

It’s a small way to rise above a madding world. 

In Christ,

Father Edward McIlmail, LC
Ask a Priest contributor