November is a wonderful month, especially in the Liturgy of Sacred Heart Church. It is the month of remembering those who have gone before us and are so near us still.
Our Shrine of Remembrance, which rises before us every Sunday until Advent,
is a corkboard circle eight feet in diameter that is covered with a blue cloth
and erected on the old high altar for each Mass. The edge of the big circumference
is adorned with a garland of sprigs with lovely autumn leaves. In the center
is a painting of the Pantocrator Christ embracing the dead represented in
photos pinned up by families and covering the whole surface of the circle.
I love the ritual of incensing the Shrine of Remembrance at the beginning
of Sunday Mass.
On Sunday, November 22, 2009, we called out the names of those murdered in the City of Camden since Sunday, November 23, 2008. The shocking number was 37 in this small City of 79,000 people. It is a number that is seven times worse than the worst City in Europe. A candle for each one of the murdered was lit from the Pascal Candle. A member of the murdered person’s family or a parishioner of Sacred Heart lit the candle and held it up, until 37 people were standing around the walls of our Church. We prayed. Then we sang: “I will raise you up.” This harsh harvest of God’s people and the harvest of nature (our Church was laden with the fruits of the Fall) were together. It was holy.
The evening Mass of Thanksgiving followed on Thursday.
Then on Saturday, the abundant drooping scene of cornstalks, wheat, pumpkins and leaves were moved out to be replaced by the lean evergreen touches of Advent. The first Advent candle was lit on Sunday. Then, after the homily, fifteen expecting mothers came forward and each was given a candle, lit from the Advent candle by an older woman. Then these words: “We bless you and the child within you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, and a loud Amen rose from the congregation for each one. The young mothers turned with their candles to face the people and Barbara Dever sang the Magnificat to them. Life leaped.
It was a scene as lovely as any other in this world.
