Pastor’s Letter: October 29, 2023

Pastor’s Letter: October 29, 2023

27 Oct 2023 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear friend,

Happy All Saints’ Day! The day before November 1, we celebrate All Hallows’ Eve. All Souls’ Day comes the day after celebrating the Saints as a call for us to remember deceased loved ones still in need of prayer. 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 in heaven. All Saints’ Day gives us the opportunity to thank God for the example of all the saints in heaven, those we know and those we don’t. 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. 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.

The celebration of All Souls’ Day gives us the opportunity to remember and celebrate all of our faithful departed. The month of November is set aside to remember our deceased loved ones and pray for their eternal salvation. The Bible is clear that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. None of us can save oneself. We all need Jesus the savior. As we remember all our deceased loved ones, the Church invites us to pray for forgiveness and mercy. At death we are all judged by God, as each person then passes to heaven, hell or purgatory. Heaven and hell are eternal states of existence, while the state of purgatory is a time of God purifying a soul prior to entering heaven. Since heaven is God’s house and God is perfect, then everyone in heaven must be perfect. Purgatory purifies the soul for heavenly entrance.

The Bible reveals that the greatest gift of God to humans is freedom. We are encouraged by the Church to use our freedom to pray God forgives all our deceased loved ones that they might pass from death into eternal life. We offer a Mass or say the Mass Intention for our deceased loved ones, that the Father might take the efficacious grace of Jesus Christ Crucified and apply it to our deceased loved ones. While we don’t know the exact experience in purgatory or the length of one’s purification, we know God hears our prayers. The Church invites us to use our freedom to pray for those in purgatory by doing works of love and sacrifice. The month of November gives us the opportunity to visit cemeteries or the graves of our loved ones, as we pray for their salvation and thank God for the gift of life. Have a great week!