From the Rector
Dear Friends,
One of the most universal commemorations in religion and spirituality is that of death.
Meditation upon mortality and those who have passed are a commemoration on the common calendar of all humanity and the human journey. At some point, regardless of path, we all come to face it after all
The Christian tradition enshrines this importance in each of its Masses, the Sacrament of Unction and of course, reflects on it in the persons of Jesus, Lazarus and many others in scripture, to say nothing of the great saints and teachers that are recalled throughout the whole of the liturgical calendar. In many cultures and traditions, death and remembrance are marked out in specific periods of time for rites, celebration, and solemnity.
In Western Christianity, this takes the form of Hallowtide- also called Hallowmas or All Hallowtide. Hallowtide consists of a triduum- or observance over three days- these days being All Hallows’ Eve (Oct 31), All Saints (Nov 1) and All Souls’ Day (Nov 2).
It is also a time where many esotericists, gnostics, pagans and christians seek out a richer experience of this reflection on death, our ancestors, and our physical and spiritual lineages. This is done not only through the millennia old celebrations above but also through folk and pagan traditions which hold that the boundary which separates us from the dead, the spiritual realm or the Otherworld as the Celts called it, is the thinnest and most perceptible.
However you celebrate, commemorate or reflect upon this sacred triduum of remembrance, it is my hope that you find joy in the remembrance of those who have gone before, a deep and abiding peace in their memory, and a sense of wonder and mystery in the presence of the thinning veil.
This Month at St. Joseph's
Join us this month as we commemorate the departed sacred to each of us with the Contemplative Rite of the AJC, Nov 14th at 7:30pm. We we will also be meeting to break bread in anticipation of Advent, on Nov 28th.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Ad Sacram Flammam,
+ Shaun Mar Iohannes
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