All Souls Day

Today our homeschool group joined together for First Friday Mass.  The young priest, who was ordained this past summer, gave a sermon about Purgatory and the importance of praying for the Holy Souls awaiting the full joys of heaven during their time of final preparation.  He explained that the Church Triumphant are the Saints in Heaven (the goal for all of us!), the Church Militant are those here on earth, and the Church Suffering are the Souls in Purgatory.  A parishioner who has a special devotion to praying for the Church Suffering asked Father to remind us to pray for the Souls in Purgatory--they need our prayers for their final purification to be fully in God's presence in Heaven.  Plus, when they are in Heaven, they will return the prayers on our behalf!

Father offered Mass in a small chapel in the parish rectory.  The small space was perfect for the five families who participated today.  At the homeschool Masses, the children greatly outnumber the adults and babies make noise, and that's okay.  I don't have small children anymore--my youngest is 7.  I remember going to weekday Masses when my children were infants and toddlers and worrying so much about disrupting the Daily Communicants.  Many of them told me they liked to hear children at Mass, which made me feel a little better, but I didn't understand.  Now, when I hear small children at Mass, especially during the Consecration, I recall Luke 18:15-17:
People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them, and when the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 
Jesus, however, called the children to himself and said, “Let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
I look to the altar (often to notice a smiling priest) and imagine Our Lord grinning at the coos and cries and calls of "Da Da Da."  

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the gift of our holy priests, especially those who graciously give time to our homeschool group.  Thank you for the gift of our families--let us love and appreciate them from the "womb to the tomb" as Father prayed today.  Thank you especially on this All Soul's Day for those who've gone before us--purify them as gold so they may join the Church Triumphant!  Amen.