29 October 2021
Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
No end of October occurs without memories of wandering through the streets dressed in costume and gathering up treats from the neighbors. It also was the time of all Saints and particularly all Souls, a time when we visited churches and attended three masses. I recall fondly how my mother gave us the to do list of the souls we were to spring from purgatory. After I was old enough to remember one year from the next, I noticed that her mother always topped the list. I inquired about the possibility if we already got Grandma over the top were we wasting our prayers. “Oh no” my mother answered, “then the next in line goes into heaven.” I recalled the orderly lines we made in grade school and thinking that I wished my name began with B but M was in the middle and it sure beat Liz Zukowski. Praying for each other has always been an important work of our Catholic faith and when we pray for the community, we participate in the great work of the contemplative orders whose job it is to keep the suffering of humanity in their prayers. Those who wander the paths of some campus or nursing home hallway keeping the souls of the suffering in their prayers and rosaries, these should be consoled that they are gathering for themselves and others the best treats of all.