Falling into Grace

Fall is well underway here in Santa Rosa and at Regina Pacis Convent as the golden leaves make quite a contrast with the scattered, blooming flowers. The season began with a postulant project: pumpkin carving - Catholic style. We may be a bit biased, but we think these were the finest carved pumpkins in town! (Who wouldn't want a monstrance with accentuating candelabra for table or fireplace decor?)

As the seasons change (both liturgical and weather), Our Lady's mantle also receives a new arrangement, matching the beautiful scenery Our Lord provides in nature. Leaves are beginning to change to their beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow as they fall (a bit more rapidly now) and cover the ground in the splendor of fall shades. Even so, in Santa Rosa, there are still a few rose blossoms come mid-November. It's not Santa Rosa without at least one rose. 

​With cooler weather comes, but of course, soup! Tomato soup, potato soup, chicken soup - the sisters appreciate a bowl of warm soup on a cool fall evening. And yet, there's something about fall that brings warmth to the heart, just like a bowl of hot soup does to the body.

​A deeper realization of God as Creator comes to mind as the sister watches the world change colors before her eyes. The death of the nature reminds the sister of her own death that one day, too, will come. For the religious, it is always important for her to have death before her mind, for death reminds her of the purpose of life: union with God, her Beloved Spouse. 

Our religious community helps the sisters keep present the reality of death and our dear faithful departed by means of two practices: 1) the end of meal prayer and 2) the monthly Requiem Mass.

At the end of every meal, the sisters pray together, "We give Thee thanks, Almighty God, for all Thy benefits, who livest and reignest forever and ever. And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen." This prayer serves as the community's daily prayer for those souls in purgatory in need of relief. ​

One of the privileges of celebrating the Extraordinary Form is the beautiful Daily Mass for the Dead (Requiem Mass), which our community celebrates monthly. Indeed this Mass is a gift in the highest form because the re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary is offered specifically for the intention of relief to the holy souls. What greater gift could be given to a soul - who yearns for the day she can be united with her God - than to offer the very sacrifice that won the redemption of that soul! 

But it is Christ Himself - through the alter Christus, the priest - who offers Himself again to the Father, pleading for the soul whom He loves so immensely and tenderly. Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation! 

​Through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we see death as not the end, but rather the beginning - the beginning of a life of eternity with God. But the holy souls rely on us to help get them there; it is our responsibility to pray for the dead. So then, let us join together in prayer the rest of this November (and with daily remembrance thereafter) for the holy souls, that this day they may be with God in paradise. 

Listed below are the links for Day 17 - Day 23 of the daily prayers for the dead:

Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23

​"My brother, if you wish to live well,
spend the remaining days of life with death before your eyes."
- St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori: Preparations for Death