The following comes from a December 9 Angelus article by R.W. Dellinger:
During the first anniversary of the Dec. 2 terrorist attack last year in San Bernardino, a Mass of Remembrance and Healing was celebrated at Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery in nearby Colton. Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Rutilio del Riego presided at the liturgy held in the mausoleum’s All Souls Chapel with other priests.
“Our hearts are with the families of these heroes in San Bernardino,” said Msgr. Gerard Lopez, vicar general of the Diocese of San Bernardino, during his homily. “Our God is a god of life, not a god of death. … Unfortunately, as you know, death entered into the world through sin and human weakness. So we do have death. Through the victims of the attack, we recognize the reality of death which interrupts eternal life. But God wanted there always to be life.”
The stone crypts, forming the side walls, reached to the arched wood ceiling of the mausoleum. In front of the small altar was a table with 14 different size orange candles representing those killed in the attack. A 15th candle inside a wreath was for all victims of violence.
And through the windows behind the altar you could see in the distance the multifloor Inland Regional Center. That is where Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, gunned down Syed’s co-workers at a combined training session and early Christmas party.
Msgr. Lopez pointed out there were actually three kinds of death that happened on Dec. 2, 2015. “The first is the physical death that each of us is going through because of the fact that that is a part of life. … And so the physical death is the death that these 14 heroes have gone through. It is something that unites them. It was a tragic death that they underwent physically.”
The vicar general said the second kind of death is the tremendous sorrow and grief loved ones experience when a relative or friend dies.
“And the third kind of death is when nobody remembers you and morns when you have gone,” he said in a rising voice, adding, “And the third death is very sad when we do not remember those who died before us. When we’re forgotten.”
For the first two deaths, there’s not much anyone can do, Msgr. Lopez pointed out. People die and loved ones morn.“But the third death is something that we are dealing with today,” he said. “We will never forget these 14 men and women heroes or who they were and what they did and where they are now. Today’s Mass is a way in which we do not believe in the third kind of death. We will never let anyone be forgotten when they leave this world like they did.”
After Mass, a small bell installed in the back of the church was rung after each victim’s name was read: Larry Daniel Kaufman, Michael Wetzel, Tin Nguyen, Robert Adams, Shannon Johnson, Bennetta Betbadal, Nicholas Thalasinos, Damian Meins, Yvette Velasco, Aurora Godoy, Sierra Clayborn, Issac Amanios, Harry Bowman and Juan Espinoza.
An interfaith prayer vigil was also held for victims on Dec. 1. At the end of the service, a red rose was placed by a photo of each victim by relatives, loved ones or local seminarians.
Whilst they had a Mass for the victims of “ISLAMIC” terror I see no mention of the fact the KILLERS were MUSLIMS! Not at all suprised that the faith of the KILLERS was not mentioned. When one cannot “name” the enemy, the enemy can NEVER be defeated. Trump names the enemy and he will destroy the evil that Western Civilization faces.
May the souls of all the victims who were murdered in San Bernardino, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. May others who are thinking of murdering other people repent and turn toward the Lord Jesus and obey His Commandments.
It seems as if the color orange is being used now in many cases to honor Christian victims because the martyrs in other nations are forced to wear orange jump suits by ISIS.
it’s so much nicer when orthodox liturgies use traditional liturgical colors to symbolize the things of heaven instead of the circumstances and ideologies of the victims’ assassins.
I agree. It is one thing to wear orange clothing at other times to honor them, or even in the congregation, but white beeswax altar candles express purity and holiness much better. I doubt very much that the churches in the areas of the martyrs in those other countries are using orange candles.
Romulus;, please google Islam, Islamic, and Muslims to get a better grasp of the definitions. Not all Muslims are Islamic terrorist. Out of the 1.2+ billion members of the Muslim faith, only a few are extremist bent on destroying the Christian world. ISIS is the Muslim equivalent of our white hooded Klan folks who are bent on destroying anything non-white, Catholic, or Jewish. Me thinks you may have drunk too much of the Trump Kool Aid.
Anne T, I think you may have just set a new record for, oh I don’t know what. Instead of rejoicing that there was a liturgy for the victims of this terrible killing spree, you are worried about the color of the candles and what they are made of. Please! I’ll bet dollars to donuts that some one in the parish said “Oh lets have a candle for each person killed.” Then they went out and bought candles or looked in the sacristy to see what was available and put them out. Really, who thinks about the color of the candles for such an occasion? Some times we, myself included, look to hard to see if there is something to criticize. Let’s focus on the positives, let’s rejoice int he Lord’s presence at these occasions. Let us be a…
Bob One, the point is that white candles are supposed to be used at a Catholic Mass, if that is what this was. If not who cares. When one starts fooling with the Mass and does not following the rubrics reasonably, all kinds of things happen, and out of respect for the dead, I will not going on to tell you.
At least ninety percent of Roman Catholic priests were not child abusers. [Perhaps some of that ninety percent did not pursue ‘hunches’ something was wrong in various cases. Be that as it may, they were never abusers]. Why take a very broad brush to accuse all members of a group crime of the [very] few.? Yes, pursue, prevent, and prosecute the few. Don’t libel the innocent.
To paraphrase Sgt. Friday of the long-ago TV series ‘Dragnet’ “Just the facts, maam”
But Mohammed, according to most Muslim website sites consummated a marriage to Aisha around the time she was nine or ten when he was in his fifties. She was still playing with her dolls according to many hadiths on Muslim websites, and some of their countries use that as an excuse for marrying child brides. Such early marriages can damage a young girl’s body, and might be why Aisha never had any children, but there are Muslim men out there, from this country and others, still defending what he did.