The Month Of Mary And All Souls Day
My brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we are nearing the Advent season when we reflect on and prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ. This is a wonderful season of celebration; and yet if we are not careful, we risk passing over the months of October and November, which hold significant gifts for our faith journey.
October is a month when we celebrate our Blessed Mother, Mary. We remember that without Mary’s “Yes” to God’s call, we would not have the birth of Christ to celebrate. We are called in the month of October to reflect on Mary’s participation in the plan of salvation as well as Mary’s participation in our own lives. She is our model as Christians.
We do not worship her as our instrument of salvation, but we do call upon her to aid and pray for us to her Son. I will write with confidence that there was no one on this earth that was closer to Him than His own mother; and therefore, we can take great confidence in calling upon her intercession in our lives.
There are countless moments in my own life when I have placed myself in the loving care of our Mother, Mary – to guide me, my family and the Church toward a closer relationship with her Son, Jesus Christ. It was in these moments when I flew to her, sinful and sorrowful, that I was comforted by our most caring and loving mother. It has been in praying the rosary of our most Blessed Mother that I have gained a multitude of insights into the life and love of Christ. I encourage us all to take up our rosaries as we journey toward a deeper relationship with Jesus and His mother, the guardians and keepers of our souls.
This brings me to All Souls Day, Nov. 2. This is a day when those of us who are still pilgrims on this earth pray for those who have gone before us. Our Catholic tradition holds that when we pass from this earth, we may not be in the state of grace necessary to enter into the pure presence of Almighty God. There is a necessary purging stage of our existence – Purgatory – that allows us to be cleansed fully so that we may enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
There will always be those who find this idea antiquated or out of touch with the sacrifice Christ made on the cross to cover our sins in an ultimate way. However, I think that Purgatory fits in nicely with it all.
Yes, Christ did open the gates of Heaven for us through his ultimate sacrifice of self for the forgiveness of our sins. Yet we, as imperfect human beings, still must strive to fulfill our ultimate treasure of being called sons and daughters of God. It is in this final purging, or cleansing of our imperfections, that we are made whole again through the sacrifice of Christ and the loving mercy of God until we can enter fully into the glory of God as our perfected selves.
What a wonderful gift this is for us! I encourage each of us to push aside the disbeliefs of our day and pray for those who are in the final stages of the perfection of their souls on All Souls Day. If we do so (and teach others to do the same) then we will not only be assisting those in prayer who have gone before us but we will be ensuring that we, too, will be the recipients of prayer when we find ourselves in wait and want to enter into the presence of God.
