This Week Letter – October 27, 2019
From the Pastor’s Desk…
In Vienna in Austria, there is a Church in which the former ruling family in Austria, the Hapsburgs, are buried.
When royal funerals used to arrive at the Church, the mourners knocked at the door of the Church to be allowed in. A priest inside would ask “Who is it that desires admission here?” A guard would call out, “His apostolic majesty, the emperor.” The priest would answer, “I don’t know him.” They would knock a second time, and again the priest would ask who was there. The funeral guard outside would announce, “The highest emperor.” A second time the priest would say, “I don’t know him.” A third time they would knock on the door, and the priest would ask “Who is it?” The third time the answer would be, “A poor sinner, your brother.”
The progression in the questions and answers of the former Austrian royal family show an advancement to humility, a progression to the stance of the tax collector in Jesus’ parable today. There is some of the pride of the Pharisee and some of the humility of the tax collector in each of us. Each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, is called by Jesus in today’s Gospel to make that journey from pride to humility.
We ask you to remember your beloved ones on the occasion of All Saints and All Souls Day. We will pray for all the deceased members of the Parish Family through the whole month of November. Please write the names of your beloved ones on the All Souls envelopes that are part of the package of envelopes or in the back of the church. We will pray for the people who died from our Parish Family last year at the 4:30 pm Mass on Saturday, November 2nd.
Rev. Richard Milek