This coming week we celebrate a very important holiday! Now, if you have children, your mind may immediately think “Halloween”. While that is important to candy and sweets seeking children (and, ok, let’s be honest—adults too who can dip into the candy jar as you hand out the “treats”. Hello peanut butter M&M’s!!). The actual answer is “All Saints Day” on November 1st. A day that reminds us that “Holiness is not a gift reserved for a few. We can all aspire to it, because it is a goal within our capacity.” F.r Sorica On All Saints Day we celebrate the triumph of grace in the lives of real flesh and blood people. These are our brothers and sisters who faced the daily cross, just as we do, and through the power of God’s love and grace, overcame sin and weakness. In that triumph of grace, powerful things happened in their lives. All Saints Day reminds us that the saints are not plaster figurines only, but their lives stand as an invitation to you and I to strive for spiritual greatness, and that this greatness IS possible for us. We CAN be saints! What an incredible truth. While Halloween may be fun for our kids, although the sugar induced, chaotic energy of our children may temper that fun for the adults, it lasts only until the end of that sugar high. Ah, but the invitation to greatness, meaning, dignity that we celebrate on All Saints Day—that is something that is far more profound and enduring. May this November 1st be a day for you to be rekindled in your conviction that “Yes, I CAN be a saint”. What a great privilege we have to be in the communion of saints, one with those who have gone before us!
Have a great week!
Fr. Schweiger