We step into the month of Remembrance, with the falling temps, barren trees, grass that is dormant, early morning frost. Such can be foreboding, but also that which can give us the silence and permission to pause and reflect.

With All Saints Day followed by All Souls Day on the 2nd, our Church designates November as a time to pause and reflect on the individuals God has placed in our lives. With the pace of our daily activities and responsibilities such is a necessity to redeem our own souls; and the Christian author and minister Frederick Buechner offers these pertinent thoughts: “When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart. For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I'm feeling most ghost-like, it is your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I'm feeling sad, it's my consolation. When I'm feeling happy, it's part of why I feel that way. If you forget me, one of the ways I remember who I am will be gone. If you forget, part of who I am will be gone.”

At each church there is a Book Of Remembrance and anyone may write in a name or names of deceased individuals to be remembered in our thoughts and prayers.

“Out of the blue” so to speak, I may suddenly see a cross alongside the road or another symbol of someone who was loved and died in an accident. Hopefully we each have our own personal way of remembering. At anytime please feel free to write in a name(s) in the Remembrance Book. As the Church teaches about the “soul”—that which seems so abstract—is created immediately by God; it is not “produced” by the parents—and also that it is immortal: It does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.”

Mass tomorrow for All Saints Day is at noon and 5:30pm in Boone, 5:30 in Madrid, and 9:00am in Ogden.
Please feel welcome to remember those who continue to interact with our earthly lives through their intercession.

Thank you to those who have given to “Together As One” our Diocesan Annual Appeal. Your support and generosity will support the ministries of Vocations, Minorities, Religious Education, Youth Outreach, Catholic Education and Social Justice.

I ask for your help with the liturgical ministries at our Masses. Please remember to sign up via our website ahead of the scheduled weekend Masses. Your presence, faith and participation is not only appreciated, but an essential part of the Eucharist we celebrate. Thank you for your presence and faith, and active involvement within our liturgies.

God Bless,
Fr. Tim

FYI: “It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll; I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” Ernest Hemingway