Pastor’s Letter: October 30, 2022

Pastor’s Letter: October 30, 2022

28 Oct 2022 | Posted by: chadmin

The October 30 bulletin is now available online.

Dear friend,

This week we celebrate All Hallows’ Eve on October 31, All Saints’ Day on November 1, and All Souls’ Day on November 2. These spiritual days encourage us to reflect on the beauty of our Catholic Christian faith and the dignity of every soul. We all came from God and we all will return to God. The gift of the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus is all about revealing the truth of God and bringing all souls to salvation. We remember “All Souls” because we know that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. The remembering of every soul that has passed from this life to the next, invites us to invoke the mercy of God. Whether we pray for deceased family members and loved ones or for people we only know by name, we pray the love of Christ concurs sin and death, while inviting all into the kingdom of Heaven. The reality of Purgatory, as a place of purification for those who die with attachments to this world, calls us to pray for forgiveness. May the Lord have mercy on all the faithful departed.

On the Solemnity of All Saints, we celebrate all those who lived lives worthy of modeling. In many ways, this should be a daily celebration; but, the Church sets aside this day to both reflect on those who lived spiritually successful lives and challenge us to seek the same. The Church has the process to canonize saints to investigate a saint’s life and miraculous intercession in order to establish that saint must be with God in heaven. However, as Christians we believe every soul in heaven is a saint, as heaven is God’s perfect house. There are thousands of canonized saints in our Church tradition. But there are millions of saints in heaven that we don’t recognize on our Church calendar. All Saints’ Day gives us the opportunity to recognize the saints we know as well as the saints we don’t, while we ask all of them to pray for us.

As I’ve studied the lives of saints over the years, I’ve learned about the many diverse ways to reach God. Some saints have an intellectual awakening, driven by the Creed that challenges how one thinks about the world and God. Others have emotional or spiritual encounters that are felt experiences which lead to a deeper communion with God. The reality is that each of us, as individuals, experiences God and the world in different ways. While sin and virtue are related to the process of reason, we arrive at the importance of choosing God in different ways. I do think we see a convergence. No matter how are spiritual lives first awaken, the reality is that we believe in God, and the words and actions that express this belief. We celebrate the saints because no matter the challenge, difficulty, or divine inspiration, they all chose to say and do the things that led to heaven. Because there are so many saints, it is important to reflect more deeply on individual saints who resonate with our lives. This challenges us to live and think like them. The saints challenge us to pray and read the Scriptures. From these personal challenges come the strength we need to put God first in our lives. As we celebrate all the saints this weekend, may we ask the Lord for courage and strength to daily say “yes” to His way of holiness in order to prepare ourselves for our heavenly encounter.

God bless,

Father David