This is one of my favorite weeks of the year because of the domino
feast days: archangels, Saint Therese of Lisieux, guardian angels, Transitus
and today Saint Francis of Assisi! Every
feast brings with it such beautiful traditions that invite us to look beyond
the material world. Two weeks after my
brother died I got my home blessed, a priest came to the house and performed a
blessing ritual during the ceremony he said something that I have since carried,
“Many of us think that this home I am blessing is just that my home- but this
is just a house on your way to your forever home in heaven. Don’t make the error of living like this world is it, always remember that we are just passing by – visitors on our way
to eternity.” Coming from poverty, from living
sardine style in a two bedroom apartment with eighteen other people- my dream
was always to own a house. When we moved
into our house it was one of the happiest days of my life, having my own
bedroom, a yard to read my books, enough space to spread my arms and just relax
- felt like heaven on earth. It was my
house, a home I was no longer ashamed of full of people that made me the most
happy. We had achieved a great dream and
now it was time to decorate and take pride in our accomplishment. As excited as I was of my earthly home,
Father was challenging me to think of the mansion that Jesus went to prepare
for me where I would live forever in His presence with all those gone before
me. Once again I dreamed of a home, but
one no longer requiring a mortgage, repairs, maintenance, or insurance
in case of a natural disaster. Father
was alluding to life after death, the reason behind my conversion, the source
of my hope that my brother was in a better place, a place I would one day hopefully arrive at- just like he had, only now he would be there to receive me when I
exited the train towards heaven.
These feast days of the past few days remind me, that my
days on earth are numbered that I have a forever destination and though that
might sound morbid, Catholicism prepares us to meet Sister Death with hope of
the future. Yesterday, as I sat in the pew participating in the Transitus
prayer service at my local parish, the altar had sunflowers (which always
connect me with my brother in heaven) and I thought of his death and the
sadness I felt. Which reminded of
something I once read, “when we are born we come into the world crying and when
we die we go with the crying sounds of those left behind.” I wondered if babies know that they have
entered into a temporal world and that’s why they cry and it made sense that
when we die we go peacefully while the ones left behind cry…
This week has two of my favorite Catholic traditions the Transitus
Prayer Service or the vigil of the passing over of Saint Francis into
heaven. This feast is an important part
of Franciscan spirituality because ideally Christians shouldn’t be afraid of
death. In remembering Saint Francis’
joyful end, turning his soul to the author of Love with such confidence we are
invited to embrace our mortality with great trust that God is waiting for us,
that all is not lost- that we are crossing over to God in the final mystery. The service is absolutely beautiful - one that
I look forward to every year and invite you to experience.
So beautifully set-up.
On a lighter note, as Saint Francis is one of those saints
that has such depth of spirituality which stretches us into realms completely
out of our comfort zone (death), he also elevates us into a happy celebration
of life. On his Feast Day, every October
fourth, another tradition that I just adore is the blessing of the animals. Bring
your pet to church day! Dollar and I
have been participating in this short prayer ritual since we learned about it
and we have nothing, but high reviews.
All pets are welcomed! This year
he wore his birthday suit and he was the belle of the ball, I thought it’d be
funny to have him wear his Sunday’s best and it sure made a lot of people
smile- mission accomplished. Now you see
why I love Saint Francis he elevates me to heaven, but teaches me to appreciate
life here on earth because life or death both are a gift from God.
I love this shot because you can see when Dollar receives the holy water and his demons leave him (LOL).
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