Pastor’s corner
An Awareness of Eternity
In a time of scandal and sin (which is to say, any time), it might be hard for us to realize the
truth of the teaching that the Church of Christ is indefectible and eternal; it is not just a human
institution. Indeed, from our perspective, it seems all too human and prone to error! The
perfection of the Church, of course, has nothing to do with us; it has solely to do with Christ and
with His Spirit which he entrusted to the Church at Pentecost. This divine connection allows us to
dare say that the Catholic Church is divine in origin and eternal in destiny.
During the month of November, we remember our dead. We hold up for our consideration
the souls of all the faithful departed who have preceded us in death. You might notice the names
inscribed on the banner hanging to the side of the sanctuary at St. Therese throughout this month
until the beginning of Advent. This is our way of remembering the men and women, boys and
girls, from our parish who have died and been honored this last year in a funeral liturgy.
This month of remembrance, which closes the Church year, begins with two feasts which
commemorate our relationship with the saints and souls of the dead. In light of some confusion
here, it might be helpful to review our teaching on this matter. To begin: There is only one
Church of Jesus Christ and it exists in both time and eternity. Though human and all too fallible
on earth, it is, in truth, divine and indefectible in its nature as an extension of the Son of God. This
is true in a hidden way now and in a clear and glorified way in heaven.
We call the Church in time the pilgrim Church or the Church militant. Both terms tell us
something about the nature of our journey of faith while alive on earth and existing in temporality.
We are pilgrims making our way through a darkened land solely by the light of faith. We are
engaged in a life-long spiritual battle, one which Christ has won, but one in which you and I must
compete and endure until our life ends on earth. It is important to keep in mind that though Christ
has won the war, we can lose the battle and with it, our soul. Holding fast to our faith, we remain
in the Church until and through death even though we may most likely die unperfected. But
remember, it is faith and not the perfection of works which guarantees salvation.
When we die in faith, we die in the Church and therefore do not leave it. The Church is
nothing less than the communion of all the saints in Christ who merit salvation solely because of
their relationship with the Savior. This is why we dare proclaim the truth that ‘there is no salvation
outside of the catholic Church.’ Purgation from the temporal effects of sin occurs in Purgatory.
We call Purgatory, the ‘Church suffering.’ All Souls Day is that normative feast where we are asked
to pray for all the dead and for their purification in the fires of Christ’s love. All the souls in
Purgatory are destined for salvation and therefore remain in the Church. Those who die outside of
the Church, die having rejected God’s love. Their eternal destiny is hell and hell is therefore wholly
outside of the Church. Our prayers cannot aid the souls in hell and indeed, were they even to hear
them, they would reject them just as they rejected God while on earth.
The sanctified soul resides in heaven with Jesus and all the saints. We call heaven the
‘Church triumphant.’ Heaven will be complete when time ends, and with it both the Church
militant and the Church suffering; there the souls of the sanctified are destined to be reunited with
their resurrection bodies. The idea of heaven is synonymous with the Church victorious. The
belief, therefore, that different churches, religions or denominations will exist in heaven is absurd;
which is not to say that members of other faiths or Christian denominations don’t make it to
heaven, but that once there, they join us in that fullness of communion with the Trinity we call the
‘communion of saints’ or ‘the Church triumphant.’ We celebrate this hope, and the current reality
that canonized saints even now reside in heaven, each year on Nov. 1, All Saints Day. In so doing,
we acknowledge that this too is our ultimate hope and destination! May the souls of the faithful
departed rest in the peace of Christ. Amen.
Fr. Stephen Geer
ordinary time
Day
Date
Time
Observance
Mass Intention
VIGIL
Nov 7
5:00 pm
Vigil of the Sunday Mass
Ryan Andrew Leander +
SUNDAY
Nov 8
9:00 am
Sunday Mass (Rosary at 8:30 am in chapel)
Mary Petska +
11:30 am
Sunday Mass
Parishioners
Monday
Nov 9
8:30 am
Liturgy of the Word with Distribution of Holy Communion (chapel)
NA
Tuesday
Nov 10
8:30 am
Pope St. Leo the Great, Doctor of the Church (chapel)
Doris Galles +
Wednesday
Nov 11
8:30 am
St. Martin of Tours, Bishop (chapel; Veterans’ Day)
All Veterans
Thursday
Nov 12
8:30 am
St. Josaphat, Bishop & Martyr (chapel)
Joanna Kong +
Friday
Nov 13
8:30 am
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, Virgin (All school Mass)
Mary Holt +
Saturday morning
Nov 14
8:30 am
Ferial weekday (chapel; Rosary at 8:00 am; No Confessions)
Carol Ann McGrath +
5:00 pm
Vigil of the Sunday Mass
Betty Susnjara +
9:00 am
Sunday Mass (Rosary at 8:30 am in chapel)
Doris Ballard +
11:30 am
Sunday Mass
Parishioners
VIGIL
SUNDAY
Nov 15