Cardinal says Pentecost Sunday, Memorial Day highlight God’s gifts of faith and freedom

By Mark Zimmermann, OSV News

GERMANTOWN, Md. (OSV News) -- At a Memorial Day Mass May 29, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington tied together the civil holiday remembering U.S. service members who died serving their country and the church feast of Pentecost Sunday May 28 by saying 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 an outdoor Mass at All Souls Cemetery in the Washington suburb of Germantown.

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."

More than 200 people gathered for the Mass celebrated beneath a large tent on the grounds of the Catholic cemetery.

In a similar setting in the Archdiocese of Miami, Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski paid tribute to the nation's fallen at a Memorial Day Mass he celebrated in the chapel at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Cemetery in North Lauderdale, Florida.

"We gather to honor and to pray for all the dead but especially for those who have made the supreme sacrifice, those who have died in the service of this great nation," the archbishop said in his homily.

"Memorial Day honors those who have died not only in the far distant past; today, we honor not only our grandfathers and fathers who died in wars fought yesterday; today we also honor our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters who have died in the wars that still are being fought today," Archbishop Wenski said. "We cannot forget those American soldiers that still stand in harm's way."

At the Maryland cemetery, Cardinal Gregory's words echoed those of the Miami archbishop.

Memorial Day, Washington's cardinal-archbishop told Massgoers, 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."

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.'

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.

At the Florida cemetery, Archbishop Wenski told Massgoers that "to recall to our memory those who have died in war means also to commit ourselves to the cause for which they died."

"To honor their memory, we too must also be resolved to serve our country, to safeguard its promise, to accept responsibility for its destiny -- 'that these dead shall not have died in vain.' This we do through assuming the responsibilities of good citizenship, by voting responsibly and paying our taxes; we do it through putting the common good ahead of private self-interest and in 'giving back' through volunteer service."

St. John XXIII in "Pacem in Terris" ("Peace on Earth"), he noted, wrote that "peace is an edifice resting on four pillars: truth, justice, love and freedom."

"Truth must be the basis of our lives: the truth of God, the truth of the moral law written on the human heart," the archbishop said. "Justice commits us to respect the dignity and rights of every human person -- from conception till natural death. … Love is the capacity to transcend oneself, to make a gift of oneself to another. We must make our families once again the schools where such love is taught and experienced and the gift of self is made possible."

"Freedom," he continued, "is not the ability to do as we please but to do as we ought. It means that we can and do assume responsibility for our actions, to do good and not to do evil."

"As Americans," Archbishop Wenski said, "we honor the sacrifice of those who died in the service of our nation by building on these pillars -- of truth, justice, love and freedom -- the peace which their sacrifice has won for us."