Dear Friends,

Out of over 17,000 Roman Catholic parishes in the US, about 800 are considered to be predominantly African-American. Our 12 noon Mass today is an opportunity for our parish community to celebrate National Black Catholic History Month – thanks to the initiative of our St. Martin de Porres Society. I am very happy to welcome Reverend Gerard C. Marable, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Galloway, NJ, as our presider.

When we recite the Creed on Sundays, we profess our belief in the “communion of saints.” The Book of Revelation 7:9 says: “I saw a huge crowd After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.” This reminds us that the holy ones in heaven are diverse in terms of nationality, race, color, or language. One takeaway we can learn about the National Black Catholic History Month is that there are over 100 saints from across the African diaspora. Currently, though there are no African-American saints, the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) has advanced beatification and canonization causes of six inspirational African-American men and women: Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Servant of God Mother Mary Lange, Venerable Henriette DeLille, Venerable Augustus Tolton, Servant of God Julia Greeley, and Sister Thea Bowman. You can read more about these holy men and women in our bulletin this month.

The “communion of saints” reminds us of another celebration: the commemoration of our departed brothers and sisters. The special Memorial Mass we celebrated on November 2nd evening was a very touching and meaningful liturgy. One of the emails I got stated: “Because we could not be in NJ for the remembrance mass, we were thankful that St. Matthias live-streamed it. We could be present for our mom along with all of those families who lost their loved ones as well.” Yes, we do miss our departed dear ones and we continue to lift them up to God.

But this month is also meant to remind us of our own death – a topic that we rather not discuss or even think of. So it may sound strange to hear that there is a revival of an ancient practice called “Memento mori” or “remembering one’s own death.” Even before the Roman empire, meditation on death and the last things was a common practice of ancient philosophers like Plato. The phrase and the practice were then incorporated into medieval Christianity. “Memento mori” was such a popular religious theme in this period that it inspired a genre of art, music, and literature.

The difference for the Christian is not only remembering our own personal death which of course will happen as there is an end to this earthly life, but Jesus has transformed our death into a new life of glory through his own resurrection. St. Benedict said to keep death before your eyes daily. St. Francis of Assisi had made peace with his own mortality, going so far as to call death his “sister.” Some­day Sister Death will greet us and we will go home to our God who created us, loves us, and re­deems us through Jesus our Savior. So this commemoration of the dead is not to make us scared but hopeful of our own future life of bliss with our dear ones in the Lord.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

Veterans Day is coming up in a week! For over 100 years, we have remembered those who served our country in uniform on 11 November – first as Armistice Day, and then, since 1954 as Veterans Day. A few years ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs broadened that tradition of observance and appreciation to include both Veterans and Military Families for the entire month of November. Besides the annual rituals of remembering them with wreaths and visits to their tombs, many organizations celebrate this upcoming weekend honoring the veterans in various ways. Many popular restaurants and other retailers across the nation are giving them free meals, discounts, and other freebies Veterans Day. Some parishes plan to pray the Patriotic Rosary on Veterans Day.

In the context of yet another tragic mass shooting a week ago – this time in Lewiston, Maine – peace and prosperity in our nation is a matter of grave concern and consideration. Every solution that has been proposed will not make our nation safe and secure unless we give priority to spirituality and family life. The profiles of most shooters reveal emotional and mental issues arising from dysfunctional families and mental health. That’s all the more reason for us to listen to what our Church has been at pains to promote. These words of Pope Francis, delivered at various events, are worth remembering and practicing:

–          “The family is the foundation of co-existence and a remedy against social fragmentation.” 

–          “Every threat to the family is a threat to society itself. The future of humanity, as Saint John Paul II often said, passes through the family. So protect your families! Protect your families! See in them your country’s greatest treasure and nourish them always by prayer and the grace of the sacraments.”

–          “We need simplicity to pray as a family; it is very beautiful and a source of great strength!  And also praying for one another! The husband for his wife, the wife for her husband, both together for their children, the children for their grandparents….praying for each other.  This is what it means to pray in the family and it is what makes the family strong: daily prayer.”

–          “Living together is an art, a patient, beautiful, fascinating journey. This journey of every day has a few rules that can be summed up in three phrases which I have already repeated many times to families, and which you have already learned to use among yourselves: May I? Thank you, and I’m sorry.”

Let us speak about these to our family and thus help every member of our family connect with God and with one another.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

This week is important for us for various reasons. Tuesday is Halloween. Wednesday is All Saints Feast. Thursday is All Souls Day. And Friday is First Friday with our Holy Hour and Sacred Heart devotion.. First in this list is Halloween which some consider as a negative holiday, because it’s been turned into a commercial driven candy fest, which obviously isn’t healthy for our children (or for us parents who raid the candy bag!). Some others oppose it for religious reasons, saying that it opens children to evil and is too frightening – although many church parking lots are used for “trunk or treat” for safety reasons! I think it is good to have some perspective that will help us look at it objectively. It was in the year 835, that Pope Gregory IV designated November 1 as All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day (the term hallow means holy referring to saints). The night before was known as All Hallows’ Evening from which the term Halloween came. 

Many festivals worldwide celebrate a time when the dead return to mingle with the living. The Hindus call it a night of Holi. The Iroquois Native Americans celebrate a feast of the dead every 12 years, when all those who have died during the preceding 12 years are honored with prayers. A national holiday in Mexico, the Day of the Dead, begins on November 2 and lasts several days. In this gruesome festival, death becomes a kind of neighborly figure, appearing on candy, jewelry, toys, bread, cakes, and so on. This is the time when the souls of the dead are thought to return and when the living are to honor them. For example, doors are decorated with flowers to welcome the angelitos, the souls of dead children.

For us Catholics, Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day and the whole of November are opportunities with two goals: first. to really think about, cherish and remember our loved ones who are departed from the earth; and second, to reflect on our own mortality and the meaning of death as a gateway to the next world. That’s why this Thursday evening at 5pm we will have a special Mass to remember our departed ones. Bringing their photos to church will help us remember them as a community. The lit candles will remind us of their life in the light of Christ who rose from the dead. Offering prayers help us to thank God for the blessing of their lives in which we too shared.

All these will also remind us about the reality of death – a topic we rather not think about! This season of Fall offers us a pageantry for our senses with the vibrantly colored leaves but the falling leaves remind us of the completion of the cycle of life – a living metaphor for death that will happen to all of us. Bible often calls it with a very pleasant term ‘sleep’ and even Jesus used that term regarding his friend Lazarus who actually had died. See John 11:11-14. St. Paul spoke about those who are alive and those who are asleep (referring to the dead) in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. Yes we don’t need to be afraid of death because Jesus conquered death through his resurrection. It is a guarantee for us to think of death as a passage to the life of eternity, to join the “communion of saints” a doctrine that reminds us of rejoining with our dear departed ones who are with God.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

Today is World Mission Sunday. It is our chance to show love and solidarity to our brothers and sisters overseas who share our faith. In offering our prayers and donations, we join with missionaries everywhere in communion and compassion to support them in spreading the Good News. Pope Francis has a beautiful message for this occasion. Let me quote just two paragraphs:

For this year’s World Mission Sunday, I have chosen a theme inspired by the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus, in the Gospel of Luke (cf. 24:13-35): “Hearts on fire, feet on the move”. Those two disciples were confused and dismayed, but their encounter with Christ in the word and in the breaking of the bread sparked in them the enthusiastic desire to set out again towards Jerusalem and proclaim that the Lord had truly risen. In the Gospel account, we perceive this change in the disciples through a few revealing images: their hearts burned within them as they heard the Scriptures explained by Jesus, their eyes were opened as they recognized him and, ultimately, their feet set out on the way. By meditating on these three images, which reflect the journey of all missionary disciples, we can renew our zeal for evangelization in today’s world.

The image of “feet setting out” reminds us once more of the perennial validity of the missio ad gentes, the mission entrusted to the Church by the risen Lord to evangelize all individuals and peoples, even to the ends of the earth. Today more than ever, our human family, wounded by so many situations of injustice, so many divisions and wars, is in need of the Good News of peace and salvation in Christ. I take this opportunity to reiterate that “everyone has the right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to announce it without excluding anyone, not as one who imposes a new obligation, but as one who shares a joy, signals a beautiful horizon, offers a desirable banquet” (Evangelii Gaudium, 14). Missionary conversion remains the principal goal that we must set for ourselves as individuals and as a community, because “missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity” (ibid., 15). (It is very easy to google and read the full message of the Pope).

I myself had many beautiful experiences as a missionary priest in the Diocese of Kohima in the north-eastern Indian state of Nagaland, prior to my coming to the USA. Being one with the simple folks in their own struggles gave me so much contentment. Living with minimum conveniences in the mission lands (no regular power, no heating during winter, no running water, etc.), I was happy to join other missionary priests, nuns, catechists, and parish leaders to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to those who were eager to know the truth of the Catholic Church. I’m sure our Fr. Lancelot also will have many beautiful missionary experiences to share with us.

How wonderful that we have missionaries coming from different countries to St. Matthias to make the Mission Appeal (as part of the Missionary Cooperation Plan of our Diocese) each year. We have been very generous in our financial support of the Missions. Let us do the same on this World Mission Sunday. In a world where so much divides us, let us rejoice in our unity as missionaries through our Baptism, as it offers each one of us an opportunity to support the life-giving presence of the Church among the poor and marginalized in more than 1,111 mission dioceses.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal