Bishop Michael F. Burbidge celebrated a Mass for All Souls’ Day at St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg Nov. 2, after which he blessed the adjacent parish cemetery. Catholics from across the diocese filled the church.
“It is quite natural to have a sadness in our hearts as we miss the physical presence and company of our spouses, parents, grandparents, children, family members and friends,” Bishop Burbidge said in his homily. “We miss them because we loved them and what a blessing to have been loved by them.”
Bishop Burbidge shared a personal memory. “I recall that moment when my mother was peacefully nearing death and she said to me, ‘Let me go to God. Let me go home.’ Perhaps some heard the same from your dearly beloved. Only love and faith allow us to say ‘yes’ as we entrusted them to the Lord for whom they longed,” he said.
After Mass, Bishop Burbidge; Father Kevin J. Larsen, pastor; Father Noah C. Morey, diocesan vocations director; and Deacon Mark Voorheis processed to the cemetery , followed by hundreds of parishioners. Bishop Burbidge offered a blessing over the graves. “Look kindly upon your servants, now freed from the bonds of mortality, and count them among your saints in heaven,” he prayed.
He then processed throughout the cemetery, blessing the graves and columbarium with holy water. Families remained at the cemetery to pray for their loved ones.
Chris and Jackie Kavookjian, parishioners of St. Francis de Sales Church in Purcellville and parents of seven, brought their children to the blessing. “It’s important for the children,” Jackie said. “The souls in purgatory are often forgotten and … this is part of our job as the ‘church militant,’ that we have to pray for the ‘church suffering’ in purgatory.”
