Provincial’s letter, November 2015

By Father Paul Borowski, C.Ss.R. |

November 1, 2015 |

Dear Brothers:

Yea, I have looked, and seen November there;
The changeless seal of change it seemed to be,
Fair death of things that, living once, were fair;
Bright sign of loneliness too great for me,
Strange image of the dread eternity,
In whose void patience how can these have part,
These outstretched feverish hands, this restless heart?
—William Morris, “November”

 

The days are shorter, the nights seem longer. Here in the Northeast the warmth of summer has changes to the chill of autumn. Like many, we will soon be caught up in the busy-ness of Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas.

As we age, it seems the days pass up by even quicker than we could ever imagine. November is here . . . a month where we as believers are asked to remember and pray for those who have gone before us in faith.

Some of the most powerful times I spent as a parish priest revolved around death and dying. I am sure we have all had experiences of preparing terminally ill people to come to some sense of peace with their illness. As ministers, many of us have sat with people as they took their final breath and then tried to give solace to the family.

Preparing for funerals, presiding at the liturgy, preaching on these occasions . . . death is something we have to deal with as part of our call to be disciples of the Risen Lord.

This month we remember all those we ministered with in their final days. We recall family members who were dear to us and whom we still miss with broken hearts.

We fondly tell stories of confreres who have gone before us in faith and who we now hope wear the crown of victory that Alphonsus spoke of for those who persevere. The month of November in the Northern Hemisphere naturally lends itself to a time of meditation on death and dying.

Wow, what an uplifting letter so far from the Provincial this month!

But death and dying are nothing to be afraid of because we know that journeying with those who have died—and with us when we die—is the Risen Lord himself.

Fear of death is simply fear of the unknown. But our faith tells us that on the other side of death’s door is a share in the glory of the resurrection: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

Let us remember those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. This month is a time to celebrate the memories of all those who have touched our life, made us who we are, and to pray for them.

Some are already counted among all the saints whom we celebrate on November 1. Some we continue to pray for, as we do on the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed on November 2. And for all of them we should utter a word of thanksgiving on November 26.

Let us also prepare to embrace our own death—whether it’s the daily dying we need to embrace each day as vowed religious or our earthly death.

We trust that our death will not be in vain since we have given over our lives to the Risen Lord.

We also entrust our lives and our death to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. “[P]ray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

As always, we remember in prayer our men in formation and all our infirm confreres at Stella Maris, the Villa in New Smyrna, and in Boston, Brooklyn, and Ephrata.

In the Spirit of the Redeemer,

Paul Borowski, C.Ss.R.

The charity of the members must also embrace deceased confreres and other deceased who deserve to be remembered with gratitude.

(General Statute 036)