Five hundred-plus people who gathered at Calvary Cemetery on the cold, wet evening of Dec. 2 heard that they remain joined to their loved ones, even in death.
“The cherished memories that we have of them can never fade because we carry what they meant to us deep in our hearts,” said Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre during the outdoor blessing and lighting of the cemetery’s Tree of Remembrance. “We remain joined in love to all of those who have died.”
He continued, noting that “we come here tonight with tears that are fresh because the death is recent or we come here tonight with tears that have been around a while because our loved ones departed life a long time ago, but tears nonetheless.”
The archbishop encouraged his listeners to remember the love that they shared rather than the fact that their loved ones have departed this life.
Participants remembered their loved ones by writing their names on glass ornaments provided by Catholic Cemeteries and hanging them from the 16-foot live Nordmann fir tree.
The free ornaments will be available throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons at the Catholic Cemeteries Office in Calvary Cemetery, 1600 Newburg Road.
