• Prayer for a priest before Confession
• Prayer for a priest after Confession
  
  

"The three days of Quinquagesima, or Shrove-tide, are the immediate preparation for Lent. Whence in them religious persons redouble their fervour in their compunction and penitential exercises. How much this spirit is recommended by the church to all her children at this time, appears in the whole tenor of her holy office. In this week of Quinquagesima, anciently all the faithful made a confession of their sins, and sanctified it by preparatory practices of holy penance.

(...) Origen, one of the earliest and most learned masters of the most illustrious of the Christian schools, established at Alexandria in the second and third ages, writes as follows: "Look about very diligently "to whom you ought to confess your sins. Try first the physician "to whom you are to lay open the source of your disorder; who "ought to know how to sympathize and condole; that if he who "has shown himself a skilful and tender physician shall give you any “advice, you carefully follow it."

The same maxim is inculcated by the most zealous pastors of the church through all succeeding ages. Shrovetide was the most solemn and general time in which all the faithful anciently approached the sacred tribunal of confession with the greatest compunction and fervour. This its very name in our language implies: for our English Saxon ancestors, from this universal custom, called it Shrovetide; that is, the time of confession.

The preparation for Lent by a careful sacramental confession of sins, is most salutary and expedient; nay often indispensably necessary, especially to persons engaged in a state of mortal sin: above all, if this be habitual; if the bands of this dismal slavery be not broken, the fasts and devotions of Lent lose the greater part of their advantages; for no good works can be satisfactory or meritorious, through the infinite price of our redemption, and the most gracious divine promise, unless performed in the state of grace, or in holy charity, by which they are grafted in Christ, as branches in the trunk of the vine. They are sanctified, and find acceptance of God, by this condition of holy charity in Christ, and by the dispositions of sincere repentance and compunction, and the fruit of the sacrament of penance worthily received, before entering upon this holy penitential course." The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church By Rev. Fr. Alban Butler

The purification of the Virgin Guido Reni

"On this day, on which we celebrate the purification of the blessed Virgin Mary, consider if you have not sufficient motives to oblige you to undertake your own purification. How much do you want of those holy dispositions, which brought the blessed Virgin this day to the temple? Though you can never hope to obtain either humility or obedience to equal hers; yet the distance between you and her gives scope to your endeavors to advance many degrees beyond what at present are. You have a wide field open before you, wherein to work upon yourself, and make some progress towards that purification, without which you can have no advantage in this day's solemnity.

Candles being blessed and distributed on this day, in memory of Christ's being acknowledged and declared the light of the Gentiles, in taking a candle you are to confess Christ to be the true light of the world, and beg that He will mercifully please to be a light to you, both living and dying. If you follow Him, He will be a light to your feet, and conduct you into the ways of true humility and obedience, who in submission to His Father's will, humbled Himself even to the death of the cross. By His help, you will soon discover all the frauds of your treacherous nature; you will learn to unmask all those vain pretexts, by which you are so often misled, and plainly distinguish between the dictates of self-love or corrupt practice, and the commands of God.

It is for want of this light that you so often go out of the way; while, as in the absence of the sun, you set up other lights in his place, so in not having the light of Christ and His justice to direct you, you substitute in His place a false light, and a false justice to be your guide. To how many unavoidable dangers must you then be exposed, when the way in which you are obliged to walk is so very narrow, and attended with precipices on every side? How can you here go on with any safety, when you have nothing before you but false lights, which confound the sight, and often blind your eyes?

This is the true cause of all the errors, injustices, and wickedness in the world. Men go on in the most unwarrantable ways, and they all have their reasons, which give them a sort of assurance and satisfaction in what they do: they have a kind of light which ever accompanies them, but they are not sincere in examining what light it is. They are not solicitous to take Christ with them; and then the enemy is ready enough to offer them false lights in his place. Their deceitful nature is too ready to accept them, because they lead to what pleases. Hence many taking but one false step in the beginning, it is often followed by most destructive consequences, which are almost irrecoverable. Hence we see a world almost entirely corrupt, and even great numbers of those who pretend to salvation, living in the practice of daily frauds, injustice, and oppressions; in most notorious disorders of prodigality, pride, self-love, and intemperance: and yet all generally persuading themselves that things are well enough. Thus blind and deluded they go on, till the entrance into eternity opens their eyes.

And how will you escape this misfortune; being equally subject to the same misery with others, of deceiving yourself? You have no other means to prevent it, but by making choice of that divine light, which is this day offered you, even Christ Himself. Beg therefore earnestly, that He will ever be a light to you: commit yourself to His guidance: have great confidence in His assistance; begin nothing without Him; submit with humility and obedience to all the ways of His commands and providence; and be ever on the watch, that no consideration of yourself, or the world, may draw you out of this way. Beg of Jesus, to let His light go before you, and to give you so sincere and docile a heart, as ever to follow where He directs." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother

Tradition: the churching of women

• Some traditional customs of the church can raise hackles. One of those of recent memory is something called “the churching of women.” Many people — incorrectly — believed that women were not allowed to return to Mass after childbirth because of some impurity on their part. While no longer common in the church, this ritual took place until the liturgical changes after Vatican II in the early 1970s and involved the return of mothers to the celebration of Mass after the birth of a child. Why women stayed away from church after a birth? Compass, Official publication Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin  By Patricia Kasten | Catholic News Service | February 1, 2015

• "Instruction for women after Childbirth: "Churching of women"
  
  
  The law of purification in the Old Testament, it is true, no longer applies to Christian women, because the Church has done away with Jewish ceremonies. But the spirit and intention of that law the Church would yet have complied with. She permits women, therefore, to remain at home, with a good conscience, for six weeks after childbirth, or so long as circumstances may require, without attending divine service, in order to care for their health. This permission is, at the same time, an excellent admonition:

- to women: that, in order to their recovery, they should refrain from anger, from exposure, from hard labor, from injurious food;

- to men: not to refuse their wives during this period, set apart by God Himself under the Old Law, the rest and attention which their nature requires.

But when this time is past the Church desires that women, should, after the example of Mary, repair to the church with their children, to procure the blessing of the priest, to give thanks to God for their safe delivery, to dedicate their children to Him, and to implore of Him, with the priest, grace to bring up their offspring in piety and holiness. In this consists the so-called "churching of women"; and, from what has been said, it is evident, not only that it contains nothing to be ashamed of, but that it should by no means be omitted by such as desire God's blessing. "
Goffine's Devout instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and holydays:1896

"Septuagesima Time lasts three weeks. The first week is called Septuagesima Week, the second Sexagesima Week, and the third Quinquagesima Week ; names taken from the Sundays beginning each week.
(...)

The number seven is found in numberless places in the Bible, and here the holy Church invites us to stop and ponder on this number, and on these seasons of the year. Let us go back to the olden times of the fathers of the Church. St. Augustine says "there are two seasons, one the time of our trials and of our temptation during this life, the other the time of our happiness and of our glories in the other life. We celebrate these times, the first before Easter, the second after Easter. The season before Easter represents the trials of the present life, the season after Easter signifies the happiness we will have in heaven. Such is the reason we pass the first of these seasons in fasting and in prayer, while the second season is consecrated to canticles of joy, and then fasting is not allowed."

The Church, the guardian and the interpreter of the Holy Bible, tells us that there are two places relating to the two seasons spoken of by St. Augustine. They are Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon is the symbol of this world of sin and of temptation, in the midst of which the Christian must pass his time of trial ; Jerusalem is the heavenly country where the good Christian rests after his trials and his labors of this life. Of these two cities, the one worldly, the other heavenly, St. Augustine writes in his immortal work, " The City of God." The people of Israel, whose history in the Bible is but a grand figure of the history of the human race, were exiled from Jerusalem and were held as captives in Babylon. Their captivity in Babylon lasted for sixty-six years, and according to the great writers on the Liturgy of the Church, the seventy days of fasting and of prayer, from Septuagesima Sunday to Easter, recall the captivity of the Jews in Babylon.

Seven is a mystic number.  In six days, God made the world and he rested on the seventh day. The most ancient traditions of Christianity tell us (...) that the race of man upon the earth is divided into seven great epochs. The first dated from the creation of Adam to the Flood, the second from Noah to the calling of Abraham, the third from Abraham to Moses, the fourth from Moses to David, the fifth from David to the captivity in Babylon, the sixth from the captivity to the coming of the Savior, and the seventh from the time of our Lord to the end of the world. Thus the age of man on the earth is measured by these great epochs. During these different times the Lord prepared the race to receive their Redeemer, and to come into the Church He established for their salvation. In the first epoch, from Adam to Abraham, all justice, all goodness, all godliness, which look down from heaven and was planted in the heart of man, was driven out by sin. In the second, from Abraham to Moses, God called the people of Israel and made of them his chosen race, to receive the prophecies relating to His Son. In the third, from Moses to David, God commanded the tabernacle to be made, the Rites and Services of the Jewish law to be carried out, to prefigure the Services of our Church. In the fourth, from David to the Captivity in Babylon, the nation of the Jews were ruled by kings, the temple of Solomon stood grand and gorgeous, and the world saw the greatest glories of the people of God. In the sixth, from the captivity to the days of our Lord, the Jewish people were the prey of conquering nations; the Maccabees alone could restore in part their departed splendors. In the seventh, from Christ to the end of the world, the Church, founded and established by our Lord, shines out before the nations called to the faith. Its glories are far greater than those of the tabernacle of Moses. The cathedrals of Christendom exceed in splendor Solomon's temple. The ceremonies in our sanctuaries are more sublime than the most gifted imagination of the Jewish priests could fancy. (...)

Thus the number seven is deeply planted in the works of the Creator of the universe. Thus for seven weeks we bow our heads in prayer and fasting before the coming of the glorious day of Easter, and in joy and praise we raise our heads for seven weeks during the glorious Paschal time following Easter. The seven weeks of sadness for our sins before the passion of our Lord, are followed by the seven weeks of happiness following His resurrection. Thus after having fasted and prayed like the Savior in the desert, we rejoice with Him as we rise from the sackcloth and ashes of Lent. We rise with our souls filled with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit imprinted in our souls. This is what the mystic writers on the ceremonies of the Church tell us. They say that the seven weeks before Easter, and the seven weeks following Easter, are according to the mystic number seven, revealed to man from heaven.

The seven weeks from Septuagesima to Easter yearly come and go, while the years of our lives, like the waters of the rivers, flow onward to be lost in the vastness of the ocean ; thus our years pass rapidly on toward the boundless ocean of eternity. The Church, our mother, tells us each year to stop and to think of the Babylon of this world in which we live as strangers, exiled from our home. She tells us to hang our harps on the willows growing on the banks of the Euphrates, like the Jews of old held captives in Babylon, and to prepare for our call to our heavenly Jerusalem above, which is our home beyond the skies, and whose glories we celebrate during the joyful time which follows Easter. She wishes us to sing the canticles of joy in her services, and that while we live here, far from our home in heaven, yet to keep our thoughts on God while in this world, lest attached to earthly things we may be exiled for ever from everlasting bliss with him, for our unfaithfulness while here below, yet,"How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?"  Following thus the inspired Book, the songs and hymns of gladness are hushed in the Church Services during this time of penance, signifying our exile here below. At other times of the year the heavenly Alleluias are often repeated, now they are heard no more, for exiles in the Babylon of this world of sin, we are traveling onward toward the Jerusalem which is above, for "we are travelers far from the Lord."  

(...)

The joyful forty days of the Christmas season have passed. With happiness have we celebrated the birth of God on earth. Now the Church enters the sad and solemn time when we prepare for the mysteries of the suffering and the dying Savior. All around us in the Church are the sombre signs of penance. We are entering in amid the three weeks of our baptism of penance, that we may well and worthily celebrate the Lord's baptism of blood in his sufferings for us on Calvary's cross. We are leaving Bethlehem and going to Calvary. We are leaving the infant God in his mother's arms, and following his steps to see him fasting in the desert. We are leaving him in the manger, and looking for him in Gethsemane. The Illuminating Life of the Christmas time has passed, and the Preparing Life of the Septuagesima time has come. We have seen him in his sweetness as a child; we are going to see him in his weakness as a man, fasting in the desert. But we must pray God for his light, in order to see his Son as each year the Church shows him to us. We must ask for grace to look first into ourselves, and see the sins which dim the brightness of our souls and keep us from seeing the truths of religion. We must ask the light of God to clearly understand how the human race had fallen when our parents sinned by eating in the garden, and to realize the deep wickedness of our sins and the deeper mercy of God in becoming man to save us from being lost forever.

The Septuagesima Season, then, is the time of the year for the deepest thought. In the words of a great writer of the eleventh century, the Apostle says, " We know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now ; and not only it, but ourselves, also, who have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption' of our body. ' That creature which groans is the soul looking at the corruption of sin which weeps to be still subject to the vanities of this world in this exile of tears. It is the cry of the Royal Prophet, " Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged." Thus holy David desired the end of his exile in this vale of tears. The Apostle who was wrapped up to the third heaven says, "I am straightened between two, having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ."St. Paul wishes to be taken from this world of sorrow and to be with Christ.

We must then pray during these days more than at any other time, giving ourselves up to sighs and to tears, so as to merit by the bitterness of our repentance, to return to the innocence we lost in our first parents. Let us weep then on the way, so as to rejoice at its end. Let us pass along the arena of this life so as to merit the awards awaiting us at its end. Let us not be like foolish travelers, who, forgetting their country, get attached to their place of exile and remain loitering on the way to their home. Let us not be like the senseless people who look not for the medicine which will cure their deadly sickness. Let us run to the healer of our diseases, saying to him, " Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak  heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled." Then our Physician will forgive us our sins. He will cure our sickness. He will shower down on us his choicest blessings.

Such are the thoughts which the Church brings before her children during this holy time of Septuagesima, that all may be prepared to celebrate well and worthily the holy Season of Lent. "

Source: The Festal Year, Or, The Origin, History, Ceremonies And Meaning Of The Sundays, Seasons, Feasts And Festivals Of The Church During The Year, Explained For The People by Fr. James L. Meagher 1883

Priest's principal role is that of a teacher:

"We are teaching whether in the parlor, in the pulpit or walking down the street. We are teaching people to know the teachings of Christ and His Church. For if we want people to be good, we must show them how to be good. Our principal task in the priesthood then is to teach. We are all missionaries and we must go and teach the truth which Christ intended that all possess." Bishop Vincent S. Waters Feb. 8, 1954 at Priests' Institute of the Raleigh Diocese's Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

Prayer for the Bishop:
O Jesus, Prince of Pastors, Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, give our bishop Luis Rafael all those virtues, which he need for his sanctification! May he watch over himself and the entire flock, with which the Holy Spirit has entrusted him! Fill his heart with Thine own Spirit! Give him faith, charity, wisdom and strength! Send him faithful co-laborers in the great work of saving and guiding souls! Make him shepherd after Thine own heart, living only for his holy office, fearing nobody but Thee, and hoping for nothing but Thee, in order that when Thou shalt come, to judge shepherds and flocks, he may obtain the unfading reward of eternal life! Amen

Imprimatur: Most Rev. Vincent S. Waters, D.D. Raleigh, N.C. March 25, 1956

Patron of the Raleigh Diocese: The Immaculate Conception

North Carolina Catholic, 1964, used with permission

"The Raleigh Diocese (...) was formally established on December 12, 1924 by Pope Pius XI. In the Bull, Omnium Ecclesiarum Sollicitudo, which erected the Diocese, the parish church of the Sacred Heart was elevated to the rank of Cathedral. Although the Diocese was thus established in 1924, the designation of the first Ordinary was not made until April 6, 1925. Prior to that date all the faithful residing in North Carolina were under the jurisdiciton of the Vicar Apostolic, Rt. Rev. Leo Haid, O.S.B.

Bishop William J. Hafey took possession of the See of Raleigh on July 1, 1925. Having previously served as the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Bishop Hafey was the youngest member of the U.S. Hierarchy at the time of his consecration.

He found less than six thousand Catholics in his new diocese. There were only twenty-six priests laboring in the territory; twenty parishes had a resident pastor, and six of the parishes had schools in which eighty-eight sisters taught no more than eight hundred pupils." (North Carolina Catholic, Dec. 13 1964)

Raleigh Diocese Bishops:
1. William J. Hafey (1925–1937)
2. Eugene J. McGuinness (1938–1944)
3. Vincent S. Waters (1945–1974)
4. Francis J. Gossman (1975–2006)
5. Michael Francis Burbidge (2006–2016)
6. Luis Rafael Zarama (2017–present)

50th Anniversary:

• Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen preaches at the 50th Anniversary Mass of the Diocese of Raleigh - 1974

Centennial: 

• Centennial Prayer for the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh: Lord God, you alone are the source of every good gift, of the vast array of our universe, and the mystery of each human life. We praise you and we thank you for your tender, faithful love. As the Diocese of Raleigh celebrates the 100th Anniversary of its founding, we stand before you with gratitude and joy for the many gifts and blessings you have bestowed upon the faithful of this Diocese.
  In imitation of Christ, your Son, you raised up courageous individuals, such as Servant of God, Father Thomas Frederick Price, and Saint Katharine Drexel, and through the countless efforts of its bishops, clergy, and the women and men who tirelessly gave of their wisdom and generosity, you have shaped a Diocese capable of bearing the fruit of compassion and charity in service to the needs of others.
  Send forth now, we pray, your Spirit upon the faithful of the Diocese of Raleigh who look forward to another hundred years of the presence of Christ burning in our hearts. As we recall the great events, which enabled the flourishing of our Diocese, fill our minds with Christʼs truth and our hearts with His love.
  As we look forward to the future may we be bonded together by the Holy Spirit and commit ourselves once again to grow as credible witnesses of the Gospel of Christ so that, as we walk your ways with faith and hope, we may never tire of bringing Christʼs joy into this world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina



St. Mary, Garner NC, Picture used with permission ©MW

"The Rorate or Angel's Masses, are really Advent Masses, because they are said only in Advent. They are called Rorate Masses because the Introit begins with the words: "Rorate caeli desuper" - "Drop down dew, ye heavens." They are also called Angels' Masses, because the Gospel is read in which the Archangel Gabriel brought the Blessed Virgin Mary the message that she should conceive of the Holy Ghost.
(...)
They are said early in the morning, before the rising of the sun. It is still night when the bells ring out and give the first sign to the faithful, addressing to them, as it were, the words of the Apostle: "Brethren, know that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep, for now our salvation is near." Roman 13:11. The faithful assemble in the church, where the Rorate Mass is said. Whilst the word outside is veiled in darkness, the church, especially the altar, is lighted up with many candles. A symbol rich in meaning. What does the mysterious obscurity outside signify but the darkness of idolatry, of sin, and of spiritual misery, in which man, after separating himself from God, lay buried; while the burning lights in the church remind us of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, "The Orient from on high hath visited us, to enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death." Luke 1: 78,79. The Rorate Masses, however, are not said at midnight, but in the morning, shortly before the break of day, for the reason that they refer to Mary, this spiritual dawn, which immediately precedes Jesus Christ, the Sun of Justice.

The Rorate Masses have a joyful celebration with solemn chant and the accompaniment of the organ. This is beautifully significant, first, because the Rorate Masses represent the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, as a mystery which must fill every Christian heart with joy; secondly, because these Masses announce the mystery of the Incarnation near at hand, referring to Gabriel, who approaches Mary, and brings her the message that she has been selected by God to become the Mother of his Son.

(...)

The contents of these Masses refer in everything to the mystery of the Incarnation in the chaste womb of the blessed Virgin Mary.

a. The Introit of the Mass has reference to this mystery, "Drop down dew, ye heavens, and let the clouds rain the just; let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Saviour." Isaiah 45:8. These words express the mournful sighing of the people in the Old Law for the promised Redeemer, and form the principal idea of Advent. This longing for the coming of the Redeemer must animate us; for, if Jesus is to come into our hearts with His grace, we must have a longing for Him. To him who has no desire to possess Jesus, our Christmas will be as little of a festival of grace as the first Christmas at Bethlehem was to Herod, to the high-priest, the Scribes, and the Pharisees. The Incarnation of Christ is also the prevailing sentiment in the three prayers of the Rorate Masses.

b. The Epistle contains the prophecy of Isaiah on the conception and birth of Christ by the Blessed Virgin Mary. By the command of God, the prophet had called upon Achaz, King of Judea, to ask for a sign from heaven, that his faith might thereby be strengthened. But Achaz, perverse as he was, rejected this invitation, and told the prophet that he would ask no sign. The prophet reprimanded him, and told him that God Himself would give a wonderful sign; which he recalled to him in these words: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and he shall be called Emmanuel." Is. 7:14. The Virgin of whom the prophet here speaks is the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Emmanuel, that is, God-with-us, whom she was to conceive and bring forth, is Jesus Christ.

The fulfillment of this prophecy is narrated in the Gospel of the Rorate Masses. It is the same Gospel which read on the Feast of the Annunciation of Mary, and treats of the mystery of the Incarnation. At the very moment when Mary said to the angel: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word," the greatest miracle of the love and mercy of God was performed. The Son of God assumed human nature in the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary. This Gospel forms the boundary line between the Old and the New Testaments; with it the time of expectation is concluded, and the fulfillment of grace begins. For this reason, the Church celebrates the Rorate Masses early in the morning, before dawn, for the night is passed, and day is at hand.

Peroration:

Reflect on the great and solemn mysteries which the Church, in her masses on the Sundays during Advent, and especially in the Rorate Masses, presents to you, and labor with renewed zeal that you may employ this holy season of Advent for the salvation of your souls. Contemplate the great misery into which the human race had fallen; reflect upon the mercies of God, who, in the very beginning, promised, and after four thousand years sent a Redeemer. Consider also what you would be without a Redeemer, and what you are, or rather still may be through him. Practice those holy exercises which are necessary in order to worthily prepare for Christmas and to participate in the graces of that festival. Amen"

Source: The Pulpit Orator, By Rev. Zollner 1884

St. John Lateran

"A DAY in memory of a famous church at Rome, built by the Emperor Constantine the Great, and dedicated to St. John Baptist, in honour of our Blessed Saviour, by the holy pope St. Sylvester. It stood upon the spot of the palace of Lateran, which gave name to that part of the hill, and was partly built with its materials. Constantine built a chapel within the church, which was dedicated to St. John Baptist. This chapel having always been a place of great fame and devotion, the whole church, though dedicated to our Saviour, has been generally called St. John Lateran.

Give thanks for the liberty and peace at that time granted to Christians, after three hundred years of persecution. Learn to make a good use both of persecution and liberty, as God shall grant it in your time. He alone knows what is best for us, we do not. See that you abuse neither. Let the zeal of this emperor, changing his palace into a church, be your instruction to study devotion and reverence in all that belongs to the worship of God. It is a shame to observe how solicitous many are in consulting what may be convenient and honourable for themselves; and yet how little that which regards the service of God falls within their care. David observing his own palace to be magnificent, while the ark of God was covered only with skins, reproached himself, saying: "I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is lodged within skins." (2 Kings vii. 2.) And upon this he resolved on building a temple. It would be well if some Christians would make the same reflection; and not let God be cast so much beneath themselves in all that belongs to his worship. Adore God in his temple, as becomes his infinite majesty; serve him there, as becomes slaves, who have been redeemed by his divine Son; and manifest your love to him there, as becomes his children, who have received innumerable blessings from this loving and tender father." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

A Burial at Ornans, Gustave Courbet

"Of late years Catholics in some places have begun to copy the pagan custom of decorating the dead. Flower wagons seem to form a necessary part of most funerals. The non-Catholic has no Mass, and Purgatory is a place unknown to him. He may mean to express his sympathy and sorrow in the flower he places on the coffin of the dead. It may speak for him the last farewell of a loving heart to a cherished friend.

But flowers are not for the dead, they take away the thought of death. The sacredness of that solemn moment is lost amid the fragrance of flowers. The casket hides an awful mystery. "Thou shalt die the death." The deceased friend has paid his share of Adam's debt, the living must be reminded of the debt that is still unpaid - their own. Gay flowers and handsome wreaths disturb the majesty of the thought.

The burial of our dead is a religious ceremony; not a vain and worldly pageant. The rubrics of the Church forbid flowers on the altar at funeral Masses; the altar is draped in mourning; the priest wears black vestments; all in keeping with the great and solemn mystery of death. Many dioceses have strict rulings forbidding flowers in Church at funerals.

What comfort will it be to you, kind reader, to have flowers lavished on your remains? Your poor soul will be craving in the cleansing fires of Purgatory, not for flowers, but for prayers, for the Precious Blood in the Holy Sacrifice of the mass! Source: Annals of St. Joseph Nov. 1917, Vol XXIX No. 9 Norbertine Fathers page 141

• Annual Poor Souls Enrollment (Fssp)
• Purgatorian Archconfraternity (Fssr)
• Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society