October
fourth is the day that the church dedicates to the remembrance of one of the
most beloved Catholic saints, Saint Francis of Assisi. Each year selected parishes celebrate the
vigil of his death, known as the Transitus, word that comes from the Latin
meaning: “passage,” “crossing” or “going over.”
The Transitus Feast has always been an important part of Christian spirituality
because ideally we should not be afraid of death. Saint Francis even referred to “Sister Death”
in a positive light, a sort of crossing into eternal life with the Father. His death was a paradox that carried the
sadness of a beloved being lost to this world with a deep joy of his birth into
eternal life. His friends and loved ones
gathered around him singing and praising the Lord with many tears on his last day of life.
It’s only
my second year in attendance at such a beautiful service and it’s become one of
my favorite celebrations of the year. I
lost my faith and for the greatest part of my life I lingered between agnosticism
and atheism. Until the day that my
brother died. When he died I came across
a fork on the road a decision concerning my spirituality needed to be made: to
believe or not believe in God. As I have
shared my brother was schizophrenic and he endure a lot of mental anguish, pain
that I saw so deeply entangled in his being.
When he passed, I could no longer believe that the material world was
all we had, but if I was going to believe in heaven it needed to be a heaven
that was real. Not the heaven with
angels playing harps and a golden gate like the one featured in most
cartoons. I needed him to exist to cross
over into a real heaven with a real God, a place where he would find peace and
a meeting spot where one day we would be reunited. This search for heaven is what led my initial steps
towards my Catholic faith. Every year,
during the Transitus Vigil I am reminded of my quest and for an hour - time is
suspended and I get to experience Sister Death and hear the bells of heaven as
one more saint arrives eternally home. Death
loses its power, it is redeemed in Jesus Christ.
The friars Chanting Ultima.
“Lord, I
beg you, let the burning and gentle force of your love pervade my soul and
withdraw it from all that is beneath Heaven, that I might die through love of
your love, since You did deign to die through love of my love…”
This year I
invited my Secular Franciscan Fraternity to the vigil and quite a good group
was able to accompany me, though my first Transitus will always be the most
special, sharing it with my sisters in Christ was such a sweet treat. And though there was no birthday cake this
year, we did get to enjoy those almond cookies that Saint Francis loved so much
and which Lady Jacoba made for him to delight as he departed from this world. Saint Francis of Assisi pray for us and happy
feast day!
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