Tying together the Memorial Day holiday and Pentecost Sunday that preceded it on the day before, Cardinal Wilton Gregory said at a May 29 Memorial Day Mass at All Souls Cemetery in Germantown that those days mark times of remembrance for God’s gifts of faith and freedom.
“This weekend is always about remembering and recommitting ourselves to the gifts that we have received, the gift of faith which must guide and direct our public behavior as Catholics and as people with generous hearts in response to the needs of all others.” Washington’s archbishop said at the outdoor Mass attended by more than 200 people that was celebrated beneath a large tent on the grounds of the Catholic cemetery in upper Montgomery County, Maryland.
Noting the Memorial Day holiday, he added, “As Americans, our memories focus on the fallen heroes of our armed forces, and we are called to be a people who not only value our freedom but who respect the freedom of all other nations.”
Memorial Day, Cardinal Gregory said, offers a time “to remember the generosity and bravery of those men and women who have served our nation in the armed forces. We are especially mindful of those who have offered their own lives in defense of our freedom. Such bravery should inspire the heart of this nation. It should also invite all of us to value the gift of freedom that we enjoy because of the generous offering of these very brave men and women.”
Reflecting on Pentecost, the cardinal pointed out that, “Yesterday, the Church throughout the world offered thanks for the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, that Spirit that enlivens, guides and forms the Church. The Spirit of God is the source of our joy and hope. That same Spirit beckons the Church to continue its mission, to proclaim Christ crucified and risen from the dead. That Spirit is the source of the Church’s power to forgive sin and to draw men and women of faith together in unity…”
Pentecost is the celebration of the birth of the Church, Cardinal Gregory said, adding that rather than being a private club for those with the gift of faith, “the Church is a community that seeks to spread its faith with all of humanity. We cannot be a Church that is closed in upon herself.”
Similarly, as a nation blessed with freedom, Americans should live and share that gift “in such a way that its benefits inspire other men and women to value that gift in other places throughout the world,” the cardinal said.
Cardinal Gregory said that the unity of commemorating Pentecost and Memorial Day on the same weekend “is to be found in the gift of the human heart and its memory – may our hearts never forget what they have received from the very hand of God.”
As he closed his homily at the cemetery Mass, the cardinal said Memorial Day also offers a time to remember departed family members and friends.
“I recall now my own parents and grandparents who are buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Chicago,” Cardinal Gregory said. “…The heart has a capacity to bring to life in our memory the goodness of the people who have blessed our lives, and on this day and on Memorial Day weekend, we pray for all of them.”
On May 29, Memorial Day Masses were also celebrated at four other cemeteries in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr. celebrated a Memorial Day Mass at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Washington Auxiliary Bishop Juan Esposito celebrated a Mass that day at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar celebrated a Memorial Day Mass at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton, and a Mass was celebrated that day at St. Mary’s Queen of Peace Cemetery in Mechanicsville by Father David Beaubien, the pastor of St. Aloysius Parish in Leonardtown.
As the Mass at All Souls Cemetery began, Cardinal Gregory processed to the altar, preceded by an honor guard of five Knights of Columbus, as a choir from St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg led the congregation in the entrance hymn, “Sing with All the Saints in Glory.”
After greeting the congregation, Lilliam Machado, the president and CEO of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Washington, said, “Today, let us remember the loyalty and bravery of our fallen men and women, whether they died in the heat of battle or after a lifetime of service in uniform. May God bless those who rest here at All Souls Cemetery, and may the Holy Family intercede for our military families, especially those whose loved ones are deployed today in harm’s way.”
In his opening remarks, Cardinal Gregory said, “We gather on Memorial Day with hearts full of gratitude for those who have given their lives for our freedom.”
The intercessions at the Mass included a prayer “that God may rescue the entire world from all the evils of war, especially in Ukraine.’
During the Eucharistic Prayer, Father Lee Fangmeyer, the pastor of Mother Seton Parish in Germantown who concelebrated the Mass, prayed, “Remember your servants who have died in service to our nation, whom you have called from this world to yourself. Grant that they who were united with your Son in a death like his, may also be one with him in his Resurrection.”
As the Memorial Day Mass ended, Patrick Jekanowski – the director of music and liturgy at St. John Neumann Parish who led the choir during the Mass – played “Taps” on a trumpet. Then the choir and congregation sang “America the Beautiful” as the closing song.
