Memorial Day Mass at Resurrection Cemetery: May 27, 2024

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and it was established to honor those fallen in battle during our nation’s Civil War.  Being first observed in 1868.
    No one spoke more eloquent words honoring those dead – as did President Abraham Lincoln who:

    160 years ago – 161 years in November:  stood in a cemetery in rural Pennsylvania and offered his famous Gettysburg Address – supposedly written on an envelop as he traveled there by train.  


    If you were like me:  you had to memorize this 272 word address at some point in your education - and so may recall these words of Lincoln’s remarks:
    “We have come to dedicate a portion of this battlefield as a final resting place for those who here–  gave their lives –  that our nation might live.  It is altogether fitting – and proper – that we should do this.  But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.  The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here – have consecrated it.”

    Bishop John Cody on Memorial Day in 1960 – 64 years ago – dedicated this final resting place for our loved ones: 
 those who fought in the battlefields of war – and those who fought in the battlefields of life.
We can only echo Lincoln words - we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow these grounds.  

For those who have gone before us have already consecrated it with their blood, their sweat, and their tears – shed for our nation, shed for our church, shed for our values, shed for each and every one of us.

This is not a holy mountain – but a place where we do recall that death is destroyed for ever through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  So let us be glad that he has saved us.
It is a place where we come to remember those who have fought the good fight, who have finished the race, who have kept the faith – who are now wearing their crown of righteousness.


    And all we can do for those who have gone before us – those friends of the risen Lord  //  is to pause and remember:  their lives, their service, their dedication, their sacrifice, and their love.

    And all we can do //  is to be thankful - and pray to God for the grace we need to be able to lay down our lives for one another – as we continue to enjoy the freedoms we have been given.

    And so I invite each one of us to call to mind those we love who are laid to rest here –  and who are laid to rest in other places of hallowed ground.  

We pause.  We remember.  And we give thanks.

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