November 5.  Loss. SEE.    “Have you seen those adverts on street poles or been given leaflets at traffic lights about some forms of healing ministry that are promoted in our country these days. Is it really possible to “Bring back lost lover” with muti or other practices or is there an element of witchcraft involved there and something we Catholics should be concerned about?  Loss is a natural part of life, but it is a consequence of original sin one could say.  It can cause much heartache and does need to be dealt with, but in appropriate ways.  Some of us pray to St Anthony to find things like car keys or ID books we have lost. Others go to Retrouvaille, a programme for troubled marriages hoping to “rediscover” their love that they think they may have lost. Jesus told stories of God’s care for us including for sinners. He tells of the shepherd who goes after one of the 100 who was lost and the woman who goes in search of one coin out of ten she had lost.

JUDGE. Reflect, share, Scripture:  The woman said, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.  Just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Luke 15:3-10:    Pope Francis.  Today our challenge is not atheism as much as the need to respond adequately to many people’s thirst for God, lest they try to satisfy it with alienating solutions or with a disembodied Jesus who demands nothing of us with regard to others. EG 89 Pope Leo: The various areas such as the search for the truth in public life, education in the digital environment, the transformation of work, the fragility of families and new forms of slavery—are not isolated phenomena. Rather, they reflect a common underlying issue, namely that if technology becomes the ultimate criterion, the human person risks being reduced to data, a cog in a machine or a commodity. If, however, technology is integrated with a wise perspective, it can become an instrument of growth, justice and fraternity. MH180

ACT AND PRAY. COMMUNAL PRAYER FOR THE DEAD. 

God, Our Father, we remember in prayer those who have had a special place  in our hearts and in our lives and are now no longer here with us.  We thank you Lord, for the gift of life we have shared together.  We ask forgiveness for the hurts we caused and forgive our loved ones too. Comfort us through the memories they leave us. May those memories give us courage for our journey into the future. Grant them a place of peace and joy in your kingdom where there is no more suffering and grief.  And when each of us is called to depart from this life May we be reunited with them in eternal happiness.    Amen