Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY

11/02/2025

All Souls' Day: A Day of Compassionate Prayer

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Today, November 2nd, the Church invites us into a spirit of quiet reflection and tender remembrance as we observe All Souls’ Day—a day of prayer and love for all who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.

Unlike the radiant triumph of All Saints’ Day, when we rejoice in those already in the fullness of heaven, today we pray for those still on the journey—souls being gently purified and prepared to behold the face of God. It is a day not of sorrow, but of hope and deep compassion, for we believe in a love stronger than death, a mercy that reaches beyond the grave.

The Church teaches us that our prayers, our Masses, and our works of charity offered in memory of the departed can help bring them closer to the light of heaven. In this way, love bridges even death itself—our communion with those who have died does not end; it simply changes form.

So, on this sacred day, we pause to remember. We call to mind the faces and names of those we have loved—parents, grandparents, spouses, children, friends—and we entrust them to the tender mercy of God. We might visit a cemetery, light a candle, or simply whisper a prayer, “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”

All Souls’ Day reminds us that we are all part of a great and unbroken family—the Church on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the saints in glory—bound together in God’s immense love. And one day, by His grace, we shall all be reunited, where every tear will be wiped away, and death will be no more.

Let us therefore live with faith, pray with hope, and love without measure—so that when our own time comes, we too may rest forever in the peace of Christ.

If you wish, you may watch the Sunday, November 2nd Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, which starts at the 2:40 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nd5W0J-nfc

If you wish, you may watch the November 1st Mass for All Saints’ Day on the official site of the Holy See: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/events/event.dir.html/content/vaticanevents/en/2025/11/1/messa-giubileo-formatori.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Should you like to learn about the forthcoming Mausoleum of Saint Patrick at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, feel free to call (914) 769-3672.

May peace be with you...

11/01/2025

The Solemnity of All Saints: We Are All Called to Holiness

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Today, November 1, is a Solemnity, the highest ranking of Church celebrations after Sundays. It honors all saints in heaven—both those canonized and the countless faithful whose names are known only to God. When combined with tomorrow's All Souls Day, they form "Allhallowtide"—a sacred time when the veil between heaven and earth seems to grow thin, and we experience in a special way our deep communion with all God's faithful, both living and deceased. The two days reveal the beautiful architecture of God's kingdom and His eternal love for all His children.

First, All Saints' Day: On this Holy Day of Obligation, the Church honors not just the great saints whose names are familiar to us but those millions of holy men and women whose names are known only to God.​

Throughout the centuries, countless people have lived lives of extraordinary holiness and sanctity. Some were famous martyrs whose blood watered the earth in testimony to Christ. Others were humble, unknown souls—a mother who raised children in faith despite poverty, a laborer who worked with integrity and kindness, a widow who cared for the sick with tender love, a child who trusted God through suffering. Their names may never appear in any earthly record, yet God knows each one perfectly, and they live eternally in His radiant presence.​

All Saints' Day says to the whole world: All of these holy ones are our brothers and sisters. They are part of our spiritual family. And we are all called to the same holiness they attained.
On this Solemnity, the Gospel give us the beautiful Beatitudes from Matthew 5, the path to sainthood:​ "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."​

My dear beloved in Christ, the Church is telling us that the path to sainthood, to the holiness that All Saints' Day celebrates, is the path of recognizing our absolute dependence on God and stripping away the pride and self-sufficiency that separate us from Him. It is the path of allowing ourselves to grieve over sin, over injustice, over the suffering of the world, and bringing all this brokenness to God's compassionate heart. It is the path of meekness—not weakness—but the strength of gentleness, of allowing God's will to triumph over our own willfulness. It is the path of righteousness—hungering and thirsting for justice and truth as fiercely as a person hungry and thirsty for food and water.​

All of this culminates in this magnificent truth: You are called to this holiness. It is not reserved for a special few. It is not something that happens to exceptional people. It is, as Pope John Paul II called it, the "universal call to holiness"—every baptized Christian, regardless of their state in life, their talents, their circumstances, is invited and called to become a saint.​

The Solemnity of All Saints celebrates a living, vibrant spiritual reality called the Communion of Saints.​ The saints in heaven have not abandoned us. They are not distant, unreachable figures in a distant kingdom. Rather, they are our spiritual brothers and sisters, powerfully united to us in Christ, and they intercede for us before God's throne. They see what we struggle with. They understand our temptations, our sorrows, our joys. And they pray for us with love.​
The saints who have reached heaven are not sitting passively in bliss. They are actively, lovingly interceding for those of us still struggling on earth. They are petitioning God on our behalf. They are using their influence with the Almighty to bring grace, mercy, and blessings into our lives.​

When we pray to a saint, we are not worshipping them—that honor belongs to God alone. Rather, we are asking them, as we might ask a trusted friend, to pray for us, to support us, to help us grow in holiness. As we celebrate this Solemnity, dear friend, the Church is also calling upon each of us to reflect seriously on our own vocation to holiness.​

May peace be with you...

10/31/2025

Saint Jude: The Apostle of Hope in Impossible Circumstances

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Please allow me to tell you about Saint Jude Thaddeus, an Apostle who was actually a relative of Jesus Christ—a cousin of our Lord through the Blessed Virgin Mary and brother of Saint James the Less.​

One of the most poignant moments featuring Saint Jude occurs during the Last Supper, when Jesus prepared His followers for His departure. Sensing the disciples' sorrow, Jude asked with touching vulnerability: "Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?"​

This tender question reveals Jude's loving heart—his longing for all people to know and embrace Jesus. Jesus responded by telling Jude that He reveals Himself not through spectacular displays, but through intimate communion with those who love Him and keep His word.​

Saint Jude is also remarkable for authoring the Epistle of Jude in the New Testament, a brief but powerful letter warning the early Church against false teachings while encouraging believers to "keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life."​

After Pentecost, Jude traveled to Judea, Samaria, Syria, Mesopotamia, and eventually Persia, where he worked alongside Saint Simon, proclaiming the Gospel and performing miracles that converted many from pagan worship to faith in Christ. Because he refused to deny Christ and worship false gods, Jude was martyred in Persia—according to tradition, beaten with a club and then beheaded.​

And here is something truly remarkable, dearly beloved: Because Jude's name resembled that of Judas Iscariot—the betrayer—many early Christians hesitated to invoke his intercession. Yet over time, people exhausted every other source of help, turned desperately to the overlooked Saint Jude, and miracles occurred. He became the patron saint of impossible causes, desperate situations, and terminal illnesses.​

What seemed like a terrible liability became a source of grace. Just as Jesus was rejected yet became our salvation, Jude was overlooked yet became the powerful intercessor for those in the most desperate circumstances.​

Saint Jude teaches us that with God, no situation is truly hopeless. His life testifies to unwavering faithfulness even unto martyrdom, to the transforming power of love despite rejection, and to the dignity of every person—no matter how overlooked—in God's eyes.​
When all hope seems lost, when every resource is exhausted, we can turn with confidence to Saint Jude, reminding ourselves that God's grace transcends every human difficulty and His mercy is infinite.

In these times of great turmoil, Saint Jude helps us to maintain hope in impossible circumstances and to trust in God's providence. May he intercede for during our most difficult times.

May peace be with you...

10/30/2025

Saint Simon the Zealot

Dear Beloved in Christ,

As we approach the end of October, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Simon on October 28th. And what a privilege it is to speak with you about one of the most fascinating and often-overlooked Apostles in the Church!

Often called Simon the Zealot, he holds a quiet but profound place among the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Though Scripture tells us little about his life, what we do know—and what tradition hands down—reveals a man of deep conviction and steadfast faith. His title, the Zealot, suggests he was a man of passion, once zealous for his people and later entirely devoted to Christ.

Saint Simon reminds us that God calls people from all walks of life, even those once restless or searching, and transforms their zeal into love and service. After Pentecost, Simon is believed to have traveled far to spread the Gospel, enduring hardship and persecution to share the Good News of salvation.

For Catholics, Saint Simon is a model of perseverance and courage in faith. He shows us that holiness often takes root not in fame or recognition, but in quiet fidelity to God’s mission. His feast, shared with Saint Jude on October 28, invites us to renew our own zeal—to be passionate, not for worldly causes, but for the Kingdom of God and the love that unites us in Christ.

May peace be with you...

10/24/2025

The Feast Day of Saint Claret on October 24

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Saint Anthony Mary Claret reveals to us what happens when a human heart becomes utterly consumed by divine love. Born in 1807 as a simple weaver's son in Spain, Anthony responded to God's call by becoming one of history's most prolific evangelizers, preaching more than 10,000 sermons and publishing 200 books—sometimes delivering eight homilies in a day and hearing confessions for ten consecutive hours!

What moves us most about Saint Anthony is his tender devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which animated everything he accomplished. When appointed Archbishop of Cuba, despite having just founded the Claretian Missionaries, he added "Mary" to his name and consecrated his entire diocese to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart. His six years in Cuba brought remarkable renewal—reforming clergy, establishing parishes, courageously opposing slavery, and founding schools and hospitals for the poor. He survived multiple assassination attempts, once being seriously wounded, yet he never wavered in his mission.​

God blessed Anthony with extraordinary mystical gifts—ecstasies, prophecy, and miraculous healings—all fruits of his profound union with Christ. Even as confessor to the Queen of Spain, he refused the comforts of court life, using his influence instead to preach missions and establish institutions of learning. At the First Vatican Council, this holy bishop championed papal infallibility before dying peacefully in a French monastery in 1870.​

This humble weaver's son became a giant of faith precisely because he understood that devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart leads us ever closer to her Divine Son. As we honor his memory today, may we ask Saint Anthony to intercede for us, that we too might burn with that same holy fire, spending ourselves completely in service to the Church and courageously proclaiming Christ's love to a world that so desperately needs to hear it. In his life we see the truth that when we surrender everything to God, He works wonders beyond our imagining.

May peace be with you...

10/23/2025

Feast Day of Saint John of Capistrano

Dear Beloved in Christ,

How blessed we are to honor one of the most remarkable servants of the Lord today, October 23rd. For Saint John exemplifies the transformative power of complete surrender to God's loving providence. He stands as a luminous witness to the truth that God can redirect even the most accomplished worldly life toward His greater glory.

Born in 1386, John was a brilliant lawyer and governor of Perugia who seemed destined for earthly honors until imprisonment opened his eyes to eternal riches. When Saint Francis appeared to him in a vision, John embraced the Franciscan life with extraordinary zeal, trading power for poverty and privilege for service.​

What makes John particularly dear to Catholics is his passionate devotion to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, which he spread throughout Europe alongside his beloved teacher, Saint Bernardine of Siena. Through the sacred monogram IHS--an ancient abbreviation for the Holy Name of Jesus Christ that has graced Christian art, churches, and devotional objects for nearly two thousand years, and which you may still see adorning our churches today--John reminded the faithful that Christ's Name contains divine power to heal, console, and protect.

At age seventy, when the Church faced existential threat from the Ottoman invasion, this holy priest led 70,000 Christian soldiers to miraculous victory at Belgrade in 1456, armed not primarily with weapons but with faith in Jesus' saving Name.

Saint John reminds us that holiness requires total abandonment to God's will, whether that leads us to quiet prayer or heroic action. He teaches us that devotion—to Jesus' Holy Name, to Mary's Immaculate Heart—is never mere sentiment but transformative fire that lights and kindles wherever it goes. May this great shepherd intercede for us, that we too might spend ourselves completely in loving service to our Lord and His Church with such devotion and courage.

May peace be with you...

10/16/2025

Saint Luke the Evangelist: Healer of Body and Soul

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Saint Luke, whose feast we celebrate on October 18th, holds a uniquely tender place in the heart of our Catholic faith. Here was a scholar of wisdom and compassion—a physician by training, a Greek from Antioch, and a Gentile who became one of Christianity's most eloquent witnesses.​

What makes Luke so precious to us is the extraordinary gift he gave the Church: not only the Third Gospel but also the Acts of the Apostles—together comprising more than a quarter of the entire New Testament. No single author contributed more to Sacred Scripture than this humble physician who never met Jesus in the flesh yet captured His life and mission with breathtaking beauty and historical precision.​

Luke's Gospel is often called the "Gospel of Mercy" because it reveals Christ's infinite compassion for sinners, the poor, and the marginalized. Only Luke gives us the Prodigal Son welcomed home by his rejoicing father, the Good Samaritan who shows mercy to a stranger, and the repentant thief promised paradise from the cross. Only Luke shows us Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and praying for His executioners: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."​

Perhaps most beautifully, Luke gives us the intimate story of Mary, our Blessed Mother. It is through Luke alone that we hear the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announced that Mary would bear the Savior. Only Luke records Mary's journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and only he preserves for us the Magnificat—Mary's sublime canticle of praise: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." These tender details could only have come from the Blessed Mother herself, and tradition tells us that Luke knew her personally and learned these sacred mysteries from her own lips.​

Luke's Gospel also gives special attention to women and prayer. He alone tells us of Anna the prophetess, the widow of Nain whose son Jesus raised from death, the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears, and Martha and Mary, who welcomed Christ into their home. His Gospel breathes with prayer—showing us Jesus praying at His baptism, before choosing the apostles, at the Transfiguration, and in Gethsemane (one of the most sacred places in all of Christian history—the garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed in agony on the night before His crucifixion).​

As a physician, Luke brought his healer's eye to the Gospel, noting medical details others missed and emphasizing Christ as the divine physician who came to heal humanity's deepest wounds. His Acts of the Apostles gives us the thrilling story of the early Church—Pentecost's fire, the courage of the martyrs, and Paul's missionary journeys, which Luke witnessed firsthand as Paul's faithful companion.​

Tradition tells us that Luke was also a gifted artist who painted the first icons of Our Lady. Whether this is historically certain or not, it captures a profound truth: Luke painted the most beautiful portrait of Mary we possess—not with brush and pigment, but with words inspired by the Holy Spirit.​

Saint Luke shows us a Christ whose mercy knows no bounds, whose love embraces all humanity, and whose mother treasured all these things in her heart. Through this beloved physician's words, the Great Physician continues to heal souls today.​

May peace be with you...

10/16/2025

The Witness of St. Ignatius of Antioch

Dear Beloved in Christ,

What a treasure the Church possesses in Saint Ignatius of Antioch, a magnificent martyr-bishop whose feast we celebrate on October 17th! Saint Ignatius stood at the very threshold of the apostolic age, a direct link between the Apostles themselves and the generations that followed.

He was born in Syria and, according to sacred tradition, was personally instructed by Saint John the Apostle. At 70 years of age, he became the third Bishop of Antioch, succeeding that very see where Saint Peter had once presided, and where followers of Jesus were first called "Christians."​ The word "see" is a beautiful ecclesiastical term that refers to the seat or throne of a bishop's authority—his diocese or the jurisdiction where he exercises his pastoral office.

What makes Ignatius so profoundly important is the extraordinary testimony he left behind. When Emperor Trajan condemned him to death at around age 107, Ignatius was escorted under armed guard from Syria to Rome to face martyrdom in the Colosseum. During this final journey, he composed seven precious letters to various Christian communities—letters that are among our earliest and most important windows into the faith of the apostolic Church.​
In these writings, Ignatius gives us the first recorded use of the term "Catholic Church."

He passionately defended the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, writing that "the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again." He called it "the medicine of immortality, the antidote we take in order not to die but to live forever in Jesus Christ."​

Ignatius also emphasized the hierarchical structure of the Church—the authority of bishops, presbyters, and deacons—teaching that unity with the bishop meant unity with Christ Himself. Perhaps most striking is his ardent embrace of martyrdom. In his letter to the Romans, he wrote: "I am God's wheat, and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may prove to be pure bread."​
When Ignatius finally reached Rome and faced the lions, he declared: "I thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast vouchsafed thus to honor me." This holy bishop-martyr shows us that authentic Christianity is about unity—unity with Christ, with one another, in faith, and in the Eucharist. Saint Ignatius of Antioch truly was Theophorous—the God-bearer—and he invites us to carry Christ within our own hearts just as courageously.​

May peace be with you...

10/02/2025

St. Patrick's Cathedral Unveils Historic Mural

At Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New Yor City, Cardinal Timothy Dolan joyfully unveiled a remarkable new mural celebrating faith, peace, and the loving guidance of Our Lady of Knock. This magnificent work, created by Brooklyn artist Adam Cvijanovic, honors first responders, saints and the countless immigrants who helped shape New York and America. The mural now graces the Cathedral as its largest commissioned artwork (almost 2,000 square feet), touching the hearts of all who enter and inviting every soul to reflect on the enduring beauty of faith.

Honoring Faith and Heritage
The mural, “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding,” serves as a tribute to generations of immigrants whose devotion shaped New York City’s Catholic spirit over the years. Cardinal Dolan’s words at the unveiling gently reminded all present that Saint Patrick’s Cathedral stands as “America’s Parish Church,” a sacred home welcoming everyone with open arms.

Spirit of Community
The Cathedral continues its mission of spiritual outreach, preparing for pro-life witness events and embracing all who seek comfort and connection in the heart of the city. May this treasured mural inspire peace, love, and understanding in every visitor’s journey and offer a gentle reminder of Our Lady’s compassionate presence watching over each one of us.

Read more about the mural here: https://saintpatrickscathedral.org/mural

Watch the video of the unveiling ceremony and see a slide show of the mural below: https://thegoodnewsroom.org/cardinal-timothy-dolan-unveils-historic-mural-at-saint-patricks-cathedral/

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has unveiled a mural by Brooklyn artist Adam Cvijanovic, the largest artwork ever commissioned for Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.