Saint Bruno Catholic Church - From the Pastor's Desk

85TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST. BRUNO PARISH: TEMPUS FUGIT - this Latin expression means: "time flees" or "time flies"… 85th anniversary of our parish had come and gone! This is the day the Lord has made! We rejoiced and were glad!… Bishop George Rassas as well as all the priests and religious honored us with their presence on that day… Many parishioners were involved in the preparation of this event. Thanks for your time, talents and treasure! According to the parish website, on December 2, 1923, twelve dedicated laymen laid the grounds for a seed of shared faith to grow for Polish Catholics who settled in the southwest side of Chicago. The first recorded Catholic Mass performed in St. Bruno church was in 1925, on Christmas Day. Within the space of the of 85 years in St. Bruno Parish there have been: 6700 baptisms, 6762 first communions, 3250 marriages, 5286 funerals and 7114 confirmations. As we look into the future, we thank God for His many blessings in these past eighty-five years, and pray that He will continue to bless our parish of St. Bruno as we continue to hold fast in our Catholic faith…

REMEMBERING OUR BELOVED DEAD: This month of November is a time for prayer for those who have gone before us in death. Please find some way to remember and honor your own ancestors, your other family members and friends, and those who gave their lives in service to our country and community. There are small signs of our continued connection to and communion with the dead. Please remember your own beloved ones this month. May they enjoy eternal life with God in heaven.

LAST THINGS: November is a special time when we direct our thoughts and feelings to those who already passed through the gate of death. In light of this reflection let us examine more closely the issues concerning the last things of human, which include: death, personal judgment, heaven or hell. DEATH—humans as material beings, just like other living organisms, are subjected to a biological law of dying. However, as a human person we possess a material-spiritual nature and are called by God to eternal life; a human spirit is indestructible. According to the Christian faith, after death, a human being passes into a new, different life in eternity. According to the Old Testament, Adam and Eve, because, of original sin would feel the effects of death: suffering, pain. On the other hand, the New Testament shows Jesus’ triumph over death and consequently—the hope of our own resurrection. The New Catechism teaches that at the moment of death the soul separates from the body.
PERSONAL JUDGEMENT - is the just judgment after death by God of the persons entire life in terms of being faithful to the commandments. God wants to save us and is not interested in passing a condemning sentence. St. John writes: “God has not sent his Son to condemn the world but for the world to be saved through Him.” St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas taught that God’s judgment should not be equated with an earthly court trial. They thought that we need to see this judgment as an inner or spiritual process. Each person will understand the truth about his life in light of an absolute truth revealed in Christ. The masks will fall; it will be the end of pretending and hypocrisy. Every person will clearly know if his or her life is lost or saved. In a comprehensive view of his or her life, the person will see what was right and what was wrong. Accordingly he or she will enter into God’s life or into eternal separation from God. The Bible supports the truth about individual personal judgment after death: as in the parable of “the rich man and Lazarus.”
HEAVEN—is the state of final happiness of a saved human being united with God. This is an immediate encounter with God known as the beatific vision. St. Paul writes in the letter to the Corinthians: “We now see unclearly as in a mirror; then we will see Him face to face…the way He is.” Everyone will receive an appropriate reward. Hence, we can talk about different degrees of happiness in heaven. We might compare our capacity for holiness to the size of dishes. Just like small and big dishes are filled so each individual will receive full happiness and peace, according to their dish. The Bible says: “The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, the human heart has not comprehended what great things God has prepared to those who love Him.”
HELL - is an eternal separation from God. Hell is the greatest punishment a human can bestow on him/herself. Hell is neither a place of torture and God’ revenge. It is a state of permanent, freely chosen rejection of God’s love and of one’s own purpose in life. Thus, hell is an absolute lack of love. We can imagine this state as a feeling of loneliness, missing and emptiness combined with hatred and despair in knowing that this could have been avoided. Jesus’ statements about hell are an expression of radical requirements for the human to take the Gospel seriously. The threat of hell or eternal condemnation should teach us a sense of responsibility for the decisions we make in life.
PURGATORY— is a process of purification after death – this is a temporary state not a last state. The Church believes that not all the saved encounter eternal happiness immediately after death. Some go through a state of purification through suffering and they can be given spiritual support through prayers of the faithful on earth. This suffering can not be compared to a condemning punishment because those who are in purgatory remain in friendship with God and are saved. Their suffering comes from desiring to be with God. Purgatory is not a place but a process that begins when a human finds God but is not yet prepared for full encounter. In the Second Book of Machabees we read that Judas Machabees requested that sacrifices will be offered for the killed soldiers to free them from sin. The church encourages us to pray for the dead. The certainty and effectiveness of these prayers is expressed in the belief of the Communion of Saints, or a spiritual unity among the faithful on earth, those in purgatory and the saints in heaven.