Regina Coeli in the Ashes

We have watched with great horror and compassion the tragedy of the fires raging through Los Angeles County this past week, fanned on by the Santa Ana winds of hurricane force. Entire communities, countless homes, schools and businesses have been rescued to rubble as lives have been devastated by the loss of loved ones, cherished possessions and pets. It has been heart-rending to see the sorrow and suffering that have afflicted so many. 
            
There have been, however, some rays of faith, hope and love shining through the smoke and darkness of discouragement. I saw one that manifested the deep faith of one family. A YouTube video showed the Peter and Jackie Halpin family returning to the site of their home in Altadena, California, where they had lived for years. Their home and all of their belongings had been reduced to ashes. The only two remaining things on the property were a statue of our Lady of Guadalupe and a statue of St. Joseph. Eight members of their family surveyed the devastation, and as they came before the statue of the Blessed Virgin, they began to sing the Regina Coeli, a 12^th Century Latin hymn typically sung during the Easter season. Peter and Jackie said they offered the hymn in thanksgiving for the survival of their family members and for the many blessings received in their home. Peter noted that their home had always been consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Before they sang the Regina Coeli, they renewed this consecration. Jackie shared that they always valued the virtue of hospitality in their lives and that she hoped to do so in the future wherever they might live. 
            
The faith that the Halpin family exhibited is not the kind of faith that the world popularizes today—a faith in good will or a sort of optimism. No, theirs is a supernatural faith—the kind we receive in the Sacrament of Baptism. It is the reception of grace, God’s own life given to us, that establishes the relationship with God, as our Father, and ourselves, as His sons and daughters. This is the faith that inspired the Halpins to turn to God in prayer, to re-consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart of His Son, and to raise their voices in song to His Blessed Mother and ours.
           
Even in the ashes of their home and the sorrow of their lives, they sang out the Easter hymn to Our Lady that calls upon her to rejoice at the Resurrection of her Son. Because of the grace of their God-given faith, Peter and Jackie were able to cry out to the Mother of God with hope that, as sure as Jesus Christ rose from the dead, they too, would rise to new life from the ashes of the fire. May they and all those affected by the California fires be buoyed up by hope. May we all sing the Regina Coeli in the suffering of our own lives, knowing that the Mother who stood at her Son’s Cross also rejoiced at His Resurrection!

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia!
For He Whom you merited to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as He said, Alleluia!
Pray for us to God, Alleluia!
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord is truly risen, Alleluia!
            
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh