November 1, 2020

“All Saint’s Day” is a generally thought of as a celebration of all the great women and men of faith and action who have gone before us and continue to live on in eternity with the One who made them and called them into being. According to St. Paul we are all caught up in this great cloud of witnesses, “the friends of God and prophets” who we call “the saints”. In a very real way we too are part of “the Communion of Saints”. St. Augustine says; “from generation to generation She (Holy Wisdom) passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets”, thus connecting us one to the other and engendering in us the desire, strength and courage to actively live out our discipleship in our daily lives. The saints are not people who were perfect; on the contrary some of them were quite irascible and difficult to live with while others are remembered for their kindness and charity. It’s their relationship with God and their openness to God’s Spirit that shaped their lives and emboldened them to live faith-filled lives that stand out for which they are remembered to this day. But we too, by the same Spirit, are part of this great cloud of witnesses and are, right now, in the midst of the terrible chaos around us, we are being called forth to be vehicles of God’s love and mercy to a wounded world around us. How can I deepen my relationship with God? How do I share God’s love and mercy with others in the midst of this chaos? How is God shaping my life today that I might know how to respond to the chaos in the world today?

Remember Holy Wisdom has passed into your hearts and made of you “friends of God and prophets” and given you the strength and courage to live out your discipleship of Jesus Christ in your daily lives, precisely in the midst of all that is going on in the world around us!

Blessings,
Fr. Tim