Dear Friends,
Today is Halloween. In many ways, Halloween has become a pagan holiday, and even more disturbingly, a day filled with occult imagery and practices. This is, to say the least, disappointing, considering that the origins of Halloween is Catholic. The origins of the word “Halloween” goes back to All Hallows’ Eve. Think about how we pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” in the Our Father. Hallowed, holy be the name of God. All Hallows’ Eve is the eve of All Saints Day—all the holy ones. The origins of Halloween is that of preparing for All Saints Day, which is celebrated on November 1 every year.
We know about the “usual suspects” when it comes to saints: Sts. Peter & Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Augustine, and other names we often hear. Of course, there are lesser known saints: St. Claude de la Colombiere, St. Louis & Zelie Martin, St. Clement Hofbauer, and more. There are also saints we do not know are saints; they haven’t been officially canonized, but enjoy the Beatific Vision, seeing God face to face in Heaven. Every person in Heaven is a saint, whether or not they have been canonized, as an ongoing message, I will reiterate this: people in Heaven are saints; they don’t change their nature into that of an angel. Every human being in Heaven is a saint, and All Saints Day is about celebrating not just the canonized saints, but all the Saints in Heaven.
I finish every bulletin with the statement, “We are saints under construction.” I began doing this after someone would often say to me, “Thank you for being a saint under construction.” It helped remind me and put things into perspective: our destiny is to be a saint. It is for this purpose that God has created us. God wants us to be a saint, and while we are on this earth, we are not yet a saint. We are under construction; we are not a finished product. God has placed us in this place, in this time for a purpose and reason, and God continually and constantly works on us and in our lives to help us live out our destiny.
How does a person know when gold has been purified and is free of impurities? When that person can see his own face in the liquified gold. Similarly, God tries us in the crucible so that He sees the reflection of His Son Jesus Christ in each one of us. A saint is a person living holiness in a heroic manner; a saint is the best version of himself or herself. Above all, a saint is a person who looks like our Lord Jesus Christ. A saint is a person whose heart, mind, and soul is conformed to the Sacred Heart, mind, and soul of Jesus Christ. A saint thinks, speaks, and acts like Christ and in the manner Christ wants. A saint is a person who gives the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
It doesn’t matter whether we are rich or poor, whether we are male or female, whether we are introverted or extroverted, whether we are a priest, religious, husband or wife, single. It doesn’t matter what our gifts or talents are, nor our intelligence. We have saints who have been poor, rich, male, female, introverted, extroverted, talented, smart, humble, gentle, rough around the edges. There are saints who have been priests, married people, religious, deacons, parents. We have saints who have been missionaries, virgins, martyrs. What is common to all of them is that they have become like Christ, and that is the construction we’re under right now, each one of us: to be like Christ.
We are saints under construction, this day and everyday, being conformed more closely to Jesus Christ. Happy All Saints Day! Have a great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt