All Souls' Day! And Vocation Awareness Week!
All Souls' Day! And Vocation Awareness Week!
Sometimes we think the church means those of us on earth. The Church has three realms. The church on earth is called the militant church because we are in a battle between good and evil; the souls in purgatory are called the suffering church because they are purifying to experience God’s glory fully, and the saints who have already entered the heavenly glory are the victorious or triumphant church.
In November, we celebrate Life Eternal…November 1st is all Saints' day and all Souls' day. The month of November is dedicated to praying for our loved ones who have gone before us. We ask the intercession of Saints for us, and we pray for the souls in purgatory. The Church is not just here in this world. We are connected to the Saints and to all those who have gone before us.
November 1st is All Saints Day, the day to honor those who have gone before us who now see God face to face in the Beatific Vision. The Church canonizes saints based on evidence and specific reasons. At the same time, the Church believes that a lot more saints are in heaven. So the Church celebrates All Saints Day to honor all saints in heaven.
November 2nd is All Souls Day, we turn our eyes to all those who have gone before us in death but died before being fully purified of all of sin’s effects. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it this way: “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (1030–31). The month of November is dedicated to calling us to pray for all those who are being purified to enter the beatific vision. Though God does not need our prayers, it is His divine will that we participate in distributing His grace. For that reason, we need to pray as active instruments of His purifying grace required for those in this world and in Purgatory.
Pope Benedict XVI says the Soul corresponds to our capacity for a relationship with God. Normally, we all want to see, touch, smell, and taste everything. In other words, we like firsthand experience. But are we satisfied with that? Don’t we have a craving for something in our hearts? There is an inner capacity to relate to God. We feel in our heart, something beyond this world. Our souls long for something beyond this world.
This Sunday's readings invite us to reflect on eternal life. In the book of Wisdom, chapter three, the author elaborates on the nature of the afterlife for both the righteous and the sinful. The first reading from the book of Wisdom (3:1-9) says that the righteous seem dead, but they are at peace. The righteous will rule in glory in the world to come. Those who trust in God in this life may find comfort in his care for his faithful ones. The second reading from Romans (5:1-11) says that God’s love has been poured into our lives through the Holy Spirit. The theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity are a gift from God. It requires our cooperation to put them into practice. Our trust in God may be put to the test in times of hardship and suffering, which helps us to grow in our interior spiritual growth. God’s love is unconditional, and his sacrifice on the Cross is the greatest example. The Gospel of John (6:37-40) is part of the Bread of Life discourse, which leads to the invitation to come to Jesus and believe in his salvation. “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me” (37) alludes to the mystery of predestination. Paul tells us about predestination in Romans 8:29. We are called to holiness and live in harmony with God. Jesus promised us life eternal.
This week, we celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week. We are all called to holiness, but in different ways: as a priest, married couple and family, singles, religious, and so on. I remember one time, one of our CCD classes invited me to the Vocation Awareness Week and asked me why I became a priest. I told them the short answer is that God called me. Then I explained to them how I found out God was calling me. It was through my family, my pastor, the nuns, my youth group, and so on. We have to talk to our children about vocations. Vocation in general is openness to God’s call. How do we foster this call? One of the brochures for this week talks about seven ways family can foster vocation: 1) snuggle up and read fascinating age appropriate saints story at bedtime; 2) watch a better movie as family (e.g. life of St. John Bosco); 3) Set the record straight, means tell children about genuine happiness, instead TV tells them what is happiness; 4) Play dress up, let children imagine being a priest or nun and play it out, 5) pray from the heart, have family prayer time and during the family prayer pray for the families, priests and nuns too; 6) Talk about vocations openly, marriage, priesthood and religious life; 7) Befriend priest and religious, invite a priest or nun at your home.
These are the little steps we can take to teach our children about vocation. Not everybody is going to be a priest or a nun. It is their choice, but it is our duty to teach them about different vocations and give them the opportunity to talk about them and to get to know about different vocations. It always starts with prayer. Let us pray for the vocation. We are all called to holiness in different paths.