Tonight, the next installment of my thoughts on our Lenten Parish Mission led by Fr. Oscar Lukefahr. This evening’s talk was “Praying the Mass with Your Friends in Heaven.”

It doesn’t take much of a stretch of the mind to realize that tonight’s talk is centered around the Communion of Saints. What I haven’t heard before, though, is how the Communion of Saints and the Mass are related to each other. Fr. Luke pointed out how Mass is the time when we on Earth are closest to our brothers and sisters who have gone before. That the Mass is truly the uniting rite between the Church Militant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Triumphant. As we know, the Mass is in fact a prayer itself, and we know from Scripture that the Saints offer up prayers to the Lord on our behalf as incense before Him.

Fr. Luke shared a couple of tangible examples of the connection between this earthly realm and the one beyond, and one was particularly memorable to me. I’ll try to do it justice. Fr. Luke was preaching a mission, and friend of his in the parish (”Dan”) invited him to do some fishing for a few days following the mission. Dan also wanted to invite a friend of his (”John”) who had recently lost his wife of many decades. John’s wife had developed a cancer that was quickly spreading, and in the hospital room, she flatlined for some period of time; the doctors were able to revive her. The couple had been atheists all their lives, and upon being revived, she asked,”why did you bring me back?” She went on to explain that she had seen the Lord while she was near death, and immediately set about prayer and made her peace with God. She passed on later that evening. So, having had this experience, John had started reading the Bible, and was suddenly interested in spirituality, so Dan thought it would be good for John to have the opportunity to talk with a priest in a casual atmosphere. They did talk a good bit, and Dan later mentioned to Fr. Luke that he’d like Fr. Luke to say a Mass for another friend who had recently passed away. Fr. Luke suggested that they just have Mass there at Dan’s home in the morning, and they did. Before saying Mass, Fr. Luke explained to John what happened during the Mass and that he would give John a blessing after he gave Dan the Eucharist. Following the Mass, John was visibly emotional, and Fr. Luke asked if everything was okay. John explained that following receiving his blessing, he had seen his wife come down the stairs behind where Fr. Luke was standing, come over to John, and hugged him tightly. And this, explains Fr. Luke, is a very tangible example of the connection that exists between those on Earth and those who have gone before, when we are united in worship at the Mass.

For me, the concept of the Communion of Saints was huge as I was coming into the Church. It’s one thing to rest in the assurance that loved ones who have died are alive in Christ, and that their earthly suffering has ended. It’s quite another thing to come to the happy realization that not only are they alive with Christ, but also interacting with us through the infinite connection that exists between all souls who have accepted Christ. Truly the icing on the proverbial cake is that they can intercede on our behalf because they are in perfect communion with God while we, in our fallen state, struggle here on Earth. Tonight’s talk showed me that the Mass is the keystone of the Communion of Saints – it always exists, but it is never more real than while we are celebrating Mass together.

Tomorrow evening’s talk is “O Lord, I am not worthy to receive You.” It’s a talk on the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance/Confession.) I’ll put in a quick plug for this because so many of our parishes allow for a whopping 30-45 minutes of scheduled confession time per week: tomorrow following the 11 AM talk, 2 priests will be available to hear individual confessions, and tomorrow following the 7 PM talk, 8 priests will be available to hear individual confessions. This also means you can confess to a priest you don’t know, for those of us like me who would much rather be a face in the crowd when it comes to confession, as opposed to being someone recognized by name because the parish only has one priest.