Tonight it is election eve as we also wind down All Souls Day. More on the election later.
I wanted to thank Fr. Cletus from Our Lady of Lourdes who offered Mass for us Saturday afternoon at St. Michael's Mission. We thank you for the gift of your Priesthood and your willingness to help us out during this period of sabbatical.
On Sunday, after the 10 am Mass, I was privileged to go to the Abita Springs Cemetery and do the blessing of the graves. I'm not sure how many of us were aware of this but be assured the special All Saints Day blessing indeed happened. I was very happy to encounter several parishioners that allowed me to give a special blessings to the family members buried there.
As we go through the month of November please know we have our special book near the front, near the baptismal font, to remember our deceased loved ones. Envelopes are also provided for your special intentions.
One more reminder, the Confirmation Mass was postponed last week due to Hurricane Zeta. Please be aware that the Archbishop checked his calendar and we are able to reschedule Confirmation for this Thursday evening. Great news!
Now, I'm sure everyone is greatly interested in the election tomorrow and many of us have already voted. If not, tomorrow is the day; please vote. As a Catholic we should vote and we should vote with a fully, properly formed conscience. Something I always keep in mind when I vote is while I am a faithful citizen of my nation, state and local area, I am aware that ultimately I want to be permanent citizen of my forever homeland, Heaven. I vote as I remind myself of this fact.
One thing we all can agree on as Catholics is to vote YES for Amendment #1, also known as the Love Life Amendment.
Finally, I leave us a prayer for this night before the big election:
A Prayer for our Nation's Election
O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord,
Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.
We thank You for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to You.
We thank You for Your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law.
We thank You for the opportunity that this election year
puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.
Lord, we pray that Your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their
salvation,
Their response to You requires that they be politically
active.
Awaken Your people to know that they are not called to be
a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.
Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to You in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read Your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.
Awaken Your people to a commitment to justice,
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when Human Lives
Begin,
And not one moment later.
Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of Your kingdom.
May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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