I hope you and your loved ones are persevering in faith and enjoying good health. We pray for you daily and hope that you are sharing your spiritual light.
It is a sad time right now and we are aware of the many Association members who have passed away as well as those that have lost family members and friends this past year. We learned of a few members who died alone from complications of COVID-19, including a wonderful couple and longtime members to the Association. Bill and Pat of St. Louis, Missouri, were full of incredible faith and unwavering love for each other and their families. They spent a lifetime together holding hands, working hard, and helping others. They raised seven children. They were married for 60 years and shared a lifetime of love. On May 1, with no visitors allowed in hospitals, their children and grandchildren watched via live video feed, as a caring priest administered the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to Bill and Pat. They died just 40 minutes apart from each other in the same room. Their relatives’ grief was made all the greater because they were not allowed to visit or extend a comforting embrace in person.
But as Jesus proclaims above and many times throughout the Gospel, death and grief are but passing dark clouds before a dawn of great, eternal joy!
And we know that even right now, we have the power to spiritually “be with” our departed loved ones — and even hasten their journey toward heaven — through our prayers.
On November 2, Catholics around the world celebrate All Souls Day. The Church instituted this feast to provide us a special opportunity to revitalize our union, and communion, with those who have passed from this life.
Your intercession is a powerful help to souls still awaiting their entrance into God’s presence, where they will rejoice forever. Your prayers transcend time, place, even death. Through Mary, the grace of your prayerful presence today can be spiritually “applied toward” your loved one’s bedside at the moment of their death, though you may have been absent or didn’t have the chance to pray.
I invite you to join with thousands of members of the Association of the Miraculous Medal who are turning to Mary and Jesus in faith-filled prayer during this feast.
At the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville, Missouri, we would be honored to celebrate Mass for your deceased loved ones on All Souls Day (November 2), and pray for them all month long.
Simply send me their names by filling out the "Remembrance List." We’ll place your loved ones’ names near our Lady’s Altar during our All Souls Day Liturgy. We’ll also remember them at our Lady’s national shrine during the anniversary month of their passing.
Another beautiful gesture signaling your love and hope is to burn a Votive Light for your departed loved ones — an enduring symbol of Christ illuminating their (and your) pathway to eternal life, where we will finally see God face to face. Simply fill in your "Remembrance List" for the Votive Light and select your offering.
Feel free to add any other special intentions you’d like us to pray for throughout November.
Your All Souls Day offering will help others draw closer to Jesus through devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. It will also support Vincentian ministries across and beyond the United States.
By praying for both the living and the faithful departed, we strengthen the communion of saints and hasten God’s kingdom to come! Be assured that you and all your loved ones are remembered in the daily Mass and prayers at the shrine.
Thank you for your gifts of prayer and continuing support.
In the love of Jesus and Mary,
Fr. Kevin McCracken, C.M.
Spiritual Director
P.S. United in the hope of the resurrection, we rejoice in the opportunity to remember your loved ones in prayer on All Souls Day! Please send me their names in the next few days.