When Death Comes

It is bad enough when we are sick or injured ourselves, but it is often more painful when our loved ones are sick or hurt, especially when they are dying, observes Cardinal Donald Wuerl in the second installment of his series on the end of life. However, in this, we are not alone.

In faith and prayer, we know that in his compassion, Jesus suffers with the one who is dying and so, in watching a loved one die, we find ourselves like Mary at the foot of the Cross. He is with them in a special way in the sacrament of anointing of the sick, which should be requested whenever death is near, but is also available for any serious illness. Here, the loving and merciful hand of Christ our Savior is extended to touch the whole person, body and soul.

While we are certainly grateful for doctors and nurses, eventually all medical remedies fail no matter how great their skills. When death comes, when someone near and dear to us is suddenly ripped away, leaving a gaping wound in our own life, it can shake us as profoundly as an earthquake. It also places us before death’s arrogant claim to have the last word.

The presence of faith helps. It does not totally eliminate our sadness, but it does provide the blessed assurance that while medicine cannot save those we love or us, in the end, the Lord of Life can. He can bring real healing. He can make a reality the words, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whoever is alive and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

"Faith helps us to see a horizon beyond this world"

Today, we honor all of our veterans who have sought to protect our nation, our liberties, our families, our lives. We pray for them all, but especially for those who gave that last full measure of devotion, sacrificing their lives so that others might live and be free.

In November, we come to the end of the liturgical calendar on the Solemnity of Christ the King, which this year also concludes the Year of Faith, which has been a time of fruitful grace for the Church and the world. Beginning with All Saints Day and All Souls Day, the month is a time set aside by the Church for us to contemplate the last things, not only the end of the entire world, but the end of our own personal worlds, that is to say, the endings of our own individual lives and the lives of our loved ones.

Last week, our neighbor across the river, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, began a series on the end of life. In his first installment, he reminds us,

as we hear on Ash Wednesday, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” One day, our bodies will fail. Death comes for us all, at least biologically, and it could come at any moment, whether after a lengthy illness or a sudden event. The ending of life on this earth, however, while it may cause some understandable apprehension, need not be cause for despair.

The Lord “is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Luke 20:38). Life in this world is preliminary to what lies ahead.

Given that death might come at any time, Cardinal Wuerl counsels, it is prudent for us to prepare.

God of Divine Mercy, Remember Your Son Terry Cramer

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death of one of Blessed Sacrament's former priests, Rev. Terry A. Cramer, on Thursday, November 7, 2013, at the young age of 46. We remember how warm and loving he was and those who heard his homilies always came away learning just a little bit more about the faith than they knew before.

On Wednesday, November 13, there will be a visitation from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Everly Funeral Home, 10565 Main Street in Fairfax (just west of Chain Bridge Road), with a funeral service at that same location the following day at 11 a.m.

UPDATED: The Blessed Sacrament community will gather for a Memorial Mass on Tuesday, November 12, at 7 p.m. Through the Holy Spirit, the community is joined together in faith as one Body in Christ to reaffirm in sign and symbol, word and gesture, that each believer through baptism shares in Christ’s death and resurrection and can look to the day when all the elect will be raised up and united in the kingdom of light and peace.

Please pray for our former father and eternal brother in Christ.

All-powerful and merciful God, we commend to you Terry, your son, whom you have called from this life to yourself. You turn the darkness of death into the dawn of new life. In your unending mercy and love, show compassion to your son, blot out any sins he may have committed through human weakness and embrace him in your arms. In this world he has died: let him live with you forever.

Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, you willingly gave yourself up to death so that all people might be saved and pass from death into a new life. Listen to our prayers. We pray for our brother Terry and commend him to your mercy. For his sake you came down from heaven. By dying you opened the gates of life for those who believe in you. Lord Jesus, holy and compassionate: forgive Terry his sins, do not let our brother be parted from you, but by your glorious power, give him light, joy, and peace in heaven where you live forever and ever. Amen.



Theology on Tap at Blessed Sacrament:Father Hurd and Forgiveness

With the anniversary of September 11 still fresh in our minds, and as we learn more about horrors and evils like chemical warfare, the question arises of what to do about such things? One response is to retaliate, to take "punitive action" against the wrongdoers. Another response is far more radical and one that is often as misunderstood as it is avoided - forgiveness. Forgive? Forgive that?? For many the very idea of forgiving is to provoke outrage and the objection "what about justice???"

The idea of forgiveness, especially the forgiveness that our infinitely merciful Lord offers us, has been a big theme for Pope Francis, and it is one that our world greatly needs at this time.

The urge is great that if you injured me, then I'll make you sorry for it and injure you back and call that justice. Of course, when we hit back, then they might say the same thing and hit us back in return, and the cycle of violence and hate goes on and on. Or maybe we don't counterattack, but simply hold grudges and nurse the resentments, saying to ourselves that what was done is "unforgiveable." All the while, thinking that we are somehow getting back at the wrongdoer by being resentful, we are actually allowing all of that anger and bile to destroy us from within.

This week on Theology on Tap we have Father Scott Hurd on "Forgiving Others: A Catholic Approach," which is both the title of his talk and his recent book. Please click on the link to this mp3 podcast or right click to save it to listen later. A native of Alexandria, together with his family, Father Hurd is a member of the parish of Blessed Sacrament, but a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington. He also serves as Vicar General of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, having previously been an Episcopal priest who in 1996 entered the Catholic Church. In 2000, Father Hurd was ordained a Catholic priest under the Pastoral Provision, which permits married former Anglican clergy to be ordained Catholic priests.

"The forgiveness we are called to offer is a decision, a process and a gift. It’s a decision because by forgiveness we choose to let go of any desire for revenge or retaliation, and we free ourselves of the bitterness and resentment that harden our hearts," says Father Hurd. "Forgiveness is a process because letting go of resentment takes time; we may need to make the decision to forgive over and over again! Finally, forgiveness is a gift of love that we give freely, without expectations, exceptions or limits. It is neither earned nor deserved. When we love the ones we forgive, we wish them happiness, not harm; well, not woe; heaven, not hell."

Note what Father Hurd says here: not "when we forgive the ones we love," but "when we love the ones we forgive." Jesus calls us to forgive and forgive and forgive -- forgive even the people we don't like, even those who have done us great harm, just as we ask Jesus in all humility to forgive us for all the bad and harmful and, yes, evil things we have done. The evil that has been done to us or by us is done and cannot be undone, but if prospective danger and evil remain, we can rightly take steps to prevent it. Forgiveness does not preclude justice, but tempers it with mercy and prevents the perpetuation of the evil, all while remembering that Jesus took all that justice upon Himself on the Cross, transforming death to new life.

The Necessity of Faith and the Power of Grace in the Fight for Life

If you ever get the chance to hear Guy Gruters speak, do it. And so it is that people are strongly urged to attend the talk he will give at Blessed Sacrament this Friday, November 16, at 7:30 p.m., "I Fought for Life!"

Guy Gruters at 2010 Men's Conference,
photo credit: Catholic Herald

In addition to being awarded more than 30 combat medals, including two silver stars, two distinguished flying crosses, two bronze stars for heroism, and two purple hearts, Capt. Guy Gruters (USAF, retired) was a guest of the infamous Hanoi Hilton for several years after his plane was shot down in 1967 during the Vietnam War. While there, he was nearly starved, the recipient of constant beatings and torture, and witness to the horrific deaths of fellow American POWs in captivity.

His response to this hell on earth? How did he learn to survive, both during his imprisonment and after his release in 1973?

Forgiveness, as related in this story --

As his friends were tortured and killed just feet away and he was unable to do anything to stop it, a maddening rage began to well up inside him that he said was the fruit of his pride. “Great anger started to grow in me,” he said. “And I didn’t know enough to stop it. I had never been angry at anybody in my life, really. But now I’m really angry. And it developed into a terrible hatred.” . . .

When he first arrived at the prison camp, he thought that God could not be anywhere near a place filled with such evil. Later, instead of looking at the evil that surrounded him, he repented of the evil that was within him.

“I just said the Act of Contrition over and over again,” Gruters said. “And I started saying the rosary even though I didn’t remember the mysteries.” This finally led him, grudgingly, to forgive his captors.

“It took me at least three months before I could even form in my mind the words, ‘Lord, I forgive them,’” Gruters said. “But I didn’t mean it. But I kept saying it. After six months, I would say, ‘Lord, I forgive them and I hope you get them to heaven. I understand that they’re your children. And I understand that you love them just like you love me. I’m with you on this. I want to love them. And I want to forgive them. I’m counting on you —- obviously, I don’t have the strength.’”

Such was the prayer of a humbled man.

“God converted my heart from total pride to being able to see through the pride and overcome the hatred and to start praying,” Gruters said. “Once that happened then there was the chance of living through the experience.” . . .

When Gruters forgave from his heart the brutal guards that seemed to be sent to him, he felt closer to God than at any other time in his life. “When I would pray for those people, I had this tremendous warmth in my heart. It was wonderful. It was great joy and peace,” he said. “The greatest joy and peace I’ve ever had in my life was in prison camp. Since I got back, ... I’ve never had that time that I had with God up there.”
(‘Lord, I forgive them’: Faith led POW to humility and peace in Vietnamese prison camp, Archdiocese of Indianapolis)

Prior to this speaking engagement at Blessed Sacrament, Capt. Gruters also spoke at the 2010 Men's Conference (mp3 podcast here), and he gave another excellent talk at Theology on Tap in Alexandria in 2008 (mp3 podcast here).

Forgiveness is not always easy. In fact, some evils are so great that it is essentially impossible for any human being to forgive them. Some hurts are just too large, some injuries are just too great (or sometimes we allow ourselves to get so self-centered that even little injuries seem great) that it is impossible for us to forgive. Or, perhaps we should emphasize that it is impossible for us to forgive. But with grace, you can do the impossible. The grace of the Holy Spirit allows us to what we otherwise could not humanly do, persevere in hope rather than give over to despair during times of hardship, suffering, and/or persecution, as well as doing that which is perhaps the most impossible thing to do at times -- forgive the unforgiveable, forgive the debt that can never be paid. Genuinely have love for an enemy. And then you can find peace and healing. The horror can be transformed and you can finally leave that Hell which is anger and resentment and despair.

Also, if you ever have the chance to read the book Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza, do so. She survived the Rwandan genocide while the rest of her family was hacked to death with machetes, along with hundreds of thousands of others. She made a discovery during that experience, as she writes in the Introduction to her book. "It is a lesson that, in the midst of mass murder, taught me how to love those who hated and hunted me -- and how to forgive those who slaughtered my family."

Capt. Gruters will be speaking on the topic "I Fought for Life!" as part of the Defend Life lecture tour. This is a fight we must all join in. Indeed, the battle is forced upon us whether we wish to engage in the fight or not. The Culture of Death continues apace. But we must not lose hope and should instead be encouraged and inspired by the witness of those like Guy Gruters. The battle is joined, but it will not be won by the force of violence, only by the conversion of hearts made possible through the power and grace of love.

--posted by Mark Rothe, Master Catechist

Bishop Names Blessed Sacrament Church as a Place of Pilgrimage for the Year of Faith

Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde has named our Church of the Blessed Sacrament as a place where Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence as part of the observance of the Year of Faith. A plenary indulgence is the complete remission of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains,

Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin. (CCC, 1472)

The gift of a plenary indulgence takes away temporal punishment so that a person can begin again with a “clean slate,” so to speak, in one’s relationship with Almighty God as well as with our brothers and sisters in the mystical body, the Church. According to a decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary, which governs the reception of indulgences in the Church, the faithful can obtain the plenary indulgence if one is truly repentant, has received the Sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion, and prays for the intentions of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, at a place designated by the local bishop. There the person should at least pray with devout meditation and end the visit with the recitation of the Our Father, the Profession of Faith, and any invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the patron saints of the shrine or church. (See the Decree of the Apostolic Pententiary, 14 September 2012)

In addition to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Bishop Loverde has designated the Cathedral of St. Thomas More and the Churches of Our Lady of Hope, St. John the Baptist, All Saints, St. Andrew, and St.Mary’s Fredericksburg as places of pilgrimage for the Year of Faith.

Blessed Sacrament Church is open every day by 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, by 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays, and 6:30 a.m. on Sundays.