This Sunday, November 1st, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints. This is a feast celebrating the whole point of human life – our universal call to holiness in order to advance on our pilgrimage of life to heaven, to be in eternal communion with God in His Kingdom of love. Today’s feast celebrates those people who followed Jesus as their way, Truth and Life authentically and so became the great and famous saints we know, and the countless unknown and simple saints- our grandparents, friends, teachers, those who passed on to us the faith and who lived their faith to the fullness, who died in the love of the Lord and their neighbor and now live in His love. These are the multitude we celebrate who “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” and brought those white baptismal garments “unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.”
How about us and our response to holiness? We live in a world that is very demanding and deceitful, a world that is filled with all kinds of lies and solutions, short cuts, many empty hopes and promises, unfulfilled expectations and wishful thinking. Our busy lives hardly leave space for the Lord as many sports and other activities fill that void and often preoccupy most parts of our spiritual aspects of life. In addition, the struggle related to COVID-19 even further pushes many of us away from our relationship with the Lord and whole idea of holiness. In the process the secular powers of this world tend to lead us away from the source of happiness and fulfilment in life, which is our relationship with the Lord. We are told the greatest lie – “Holiness is not possible!” On this Feast day, we need to search our hearts and to return to our relationship with the Lord who loves us! It is our turn now. “Wherever you have been, whatever you have done, I firmly believe that God is inviting you right now to a very new and special period in your life. Will you open yourself up to it?” (Rediscover the Saints, p.123)
On November 2nd, we celebrate the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed – All Soul’s Day, when in a very special way we call to mind all the faithful dead, both those known to us and those we do not know. During the entire week we will offer Masses for the intentions you submitted in the special envelopes that will be placed on the altar. The Catholic Church teaches that our prayers and sacrifices for our deceased help them in great ways. In fact, Holy Mother Church names praying for the dead as one of the spiritual works of mercy. In the month of November, we are encouraged to exercise the works of mercy as we pray for our dearly departed loved ones, especially now in a world that is quick to implicitly "canonize" the deceased. St. Francis De Sales reminds us, "We do not often enough remember our dead, our faithful departed;" and St. Ambrose calls us to mind that, "We have loved them dearly during life, so let us not abandon them until we have conducted them by our prayers into the house of the Lord." It is part of our belief that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the highest form of prayer and the most efficacious prayer we can offer for our dearly departed. What a blessing and privilege for us it is and what a special opportunity for our loved ones who have preceded us in death!
The week of November 1-7, the Church in the United States will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week. This week is designed to help promote vocation awareness and to encourage young people to ask the question: "To what vocation in life is God calling me?" To promote the culture of vocations is to encourage our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and invite them to think and to pray about it. Research had showed the significant role community encouragement plays in the discerning process. "Over and over again when asked, newly ordained priests and newly professed men and women religious, credit the encouragement of family members, coworkers, friends and clergy, as being a significant factor in their pursuing a vocation."
Just a reminder that on Tuesday, November 3rd is Election Day. Let’s be responsible citizens and go and vote. May your vote reflect the desire of your holiness and flow from your conscience formed by the teaching of Jesus and the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Next week is our Annual St. Luke Festival. We are committed to protocols and guidelines to keep everybody safe and at the same time to enjoy the fun of the festival. There are going to be some usual inconveniences especially with parking. Please be patient and understanding or simply be holy. Hope to see you on the grounds of the Festival!