For All The Saints

On Wednesday, as we always do in the middle of Holy Week, we had a memorial service at the St. Vincent dePaul Downtown Chapel. We sang, we heard readings and prayers from many faiths. I read a new memorial poem "In Their Season."

We read the names of the year's downtown fallen, the homesteaders of our streets and bridges and doorways. A candle was lighted for every one. And we remembered the 50 more whose names weren't on the list, the seventeen casualties of area murder suicides and domestic violence over the past year.

For everyone, this day is for you. This is the day that says there is an answer to all that does not make sense, that defies explanation. God has the last words, and they are the same as the first: love and life.

This day is for you. This day is for all the saints.

He is risen!

Thanks be to God!

Amen.

Roger