This is the week the Church celebrates All Saints Day and the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. Most of us can’t help but think about those who have passed away. And for some among us, this carries a tremendous weight.

I feel called to share a bit about a beautiful ministry our parish offers, appropriately named “An Experience of Hope.” It offers healing from the pain, sorrow, and/or shame of an abortion. It is completely confidential, absolutely free of charge, and done one-on-one with a trained facilitator (called a healing companion).

This Sunday’s First Reading ends with the line, “For I am a father to Israel, Ephraim is my first born.”

Pop quiz! Who (or what) in the world is “Ephraim?” If you know. Well done.
If you don’t—do something about it.

Last week, I used this column to reflect on God’s desire for us to pray, not only for the intentions of the world and others, but ourselves as well.

This week’s readings reinforce this message.
The Psalm Response says, “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.”

Then, the Second Reading (taken from Hebrews 4) says, “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”

During my eighteen years running youth ministry programs and six years running faith formation for the entire parish, I’ve encountered numerous people who refuse to pray for themselves.

I’ll ask, “What is something I can pray for—for you?” They respond with something about peace in the Middle East. I’ll say, “That’s a great and worthy intention and I’ll pray for it, but what is something I can pray for—for you?”
They respond with something about the health of a parent, spouse, sibling, or pet.

Virtually every night, my family huddles at our preschool daughter’s bedside and we say our prayers. When Georgiana prays, it gets interesting.

“Dear Lord, thank you for Jesus, Mommy, Daddy...” So far, so good.

“Thank you for my toys, ::insert random preschool classmate name here::, kitties, doggies...” Okay. Nothing wrong here.

“And unicorns and hippopostamusses and Paw Patrol...” Wait. Did she say “hippopostamusses?”