ALL SOULS/ALL SAINTS

Think of this: The Church professes to have a list (a canon) of believers who have passed and are now in heaven; men and women of all stripes who lived heroic lives of faith and are now interceding for us in heaven. That’s a bold and optimistic teaching. In addition to the known saints, we believe there is a multitude of others who, though not in our official canon, are nonetheless saints. As the Lord once said, people will come from the east and the west, north and south, and take their place at the heavenly banquet.

This victorious and hopeful reality is what we will celebrate on All Saints Day. Not only St. Eugene and Blessed Stanley Rother; not only St. Mary and St. Teresa of Avila, but an uncountable number of souls now look upon the Lamb of God. These, the saints, pray for us, and bid us come where they are (in due time).

All Souls Day is a more somber moment. We believe that, if we die with unrepented venial sins, that God, in his mercy, will purge us of our sinfulness in the fires of purgatory. This purgation, this cleansing, is remembered on All Souls Day. The souls in purgatory are helped by the prayers of the Church. It’s a profound act of charity to pray for the dead.

This All Souls Day, you might visit a cemetery, and there pray your rosary. Our hope is that every soul will find its way to God. We hope and pray that no one is lost to eternal death.

UPDATE ON THE CAMPAIGN FOR OUR EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER

We are now over $5,000,000 in cash and pledges. Remember, if you paused your payments on your pledge to the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine, you can help us by honoring that pledge. All the monies collected from our parish for the One Church Many Disciples campaign will now come to us and will be used to build the Early Childhood Center.