From the Pastor&

For the last twenty-eight years I have prayed with many families as they kept vigil with a loved one who was dying.  The Sacrament of the Dying is the Eucharist - "Food for the Final Journey."  There are also special prayers that the Church prays for the dying.  I have also found the Rosary, a Hail Mary, to be quite comforting for families.  Those are comforting words we pray to the Mother of God& "pray for us now and at the hour of our death."
At every Mass the Church prays for the dead& we rejoice in the communion of saints& we believe in the resurrection and life everlasting.  One day, all of us, one by one, pass through the Door of Death into the new life promised us at our baptism.  It is important to live life fully.  St. Ireaneus said, "The glory of God is a human being fully alive."  But is also helpful to plan for the "hour of one's own death."
Preparing for death is not just about legal and financial matters.  It is also a meditation on a great mystery - the mystery of death and resurrection.
On Wednesday evening, September 20, at 7:00 p.m., we will  have a workshop about Pre-planning a funeral.  When a loved one dies, there are so many things to do and plan that one can collapse after the funeral from exhaustion.  Planning needs to be done, and the more pre-planning taken care of help family or friends who will be in charge after "the hour of death."
Pre-planning can include:
1) The choice of a funeral home
2) The memorial card - choice of a favorite Scripture passage
3) Selection of a coffin
4) Place of burial
5) Memorial marker and inscription
6) Cremation
7) Choosing Scriptures that the family can choose a few from
8) Suggestions for music-selections that they can choose from
9) Pallbearers
10) Biographical information for an obituary
11) Memorial requests
12) Persons to notify
13) Making a will
14) Medical treatment
15) Donation of organs and body
16) Insurance and death benefits information
17) Bank, Savings and Loan, Credit Union accounts
18) Real Estate-location/mortgage held by
19) Stocks and Bonds
20) Safety Deposit boxes
21) Helping a non-Catholic spouse be comfortable
Joining Fr. Michael and myself, will be Rob Hunt, a parishioner and a funeral director; Rita Clare Steinhagen, an attorney-at-law and a friend who helped me with legal matters; Jay Hunstiger from our worship staff; and Cheri Sykes our parish music director.  There will be plenty of hand-outs and information.
We ask that you register by calling the parish at (651) 633-8333 so we have enough chairs and hand-outs.  NO FEE.  NO HARD SELLS.  We just want to be of help.
In conclusion, here is a prayer by Cardinal Newman.  It could be an evening prayer:
  O Lord, support us all the day long,
  until the shadows lengthen,
  and the evening comes,
  and when the bury world is husked,
  and the fever of life is over,
  and our work is done.
  Then in your mercy,
  grant us a safe lodging,
  and a holy rest,
  and peace at the last.
Fr. Bill