Holy Days and Holy People

This week on Monday we celebrate one of my favorite feast days, “All Saints.” This is a celebration of one of our core Catholic doctrines ‘the Communion of Saints.’ This biblical teaching is based on our belief that there is an intimate ‘comunion’ between the saints in heaven and us ‘saints’ here on earth. While we rarely think of ourselves as ‘saints,’ we are united with the Blessed Ones in heaven by our shared belief and baptism in Jesus Christ. This doctrine is why we also believe that we can ‘communicate’ with the saints in heaven and we ask them to pray for us since they now share in the beatific vision of God in eternal life.

This feast is connected with the Feast of All Souls, celebrated November 2, in which we pray for all of our deceased loved ones. We believe that whether our loved one died recently or many years ago, our prayers for them truly help them on their ‘timeless’ journey into the arms of God.

All Saints Feast Day Mass is on Monday at 7:00 PM
All Souls Feast Day Mass is on Tuesday at 7:00 PM

For those who are new, we have a beautiful tradition at St. Clare in which we invite you to bring photographs of your deceased loved ones and place them on the tables in the two side shrines to our Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph. We keep them there during the whole month of November in this traditional month of praying for the dead. We also have a book near the baptismal font at the entrance to the St. Clare Chapel with the names of our loved ones who have died in this past year since last November. If you would like to have your loved one’s name added to this book and included in the Mass prayers during this month, please call the parish office.

God’s Peace to you,
Fr. Jim Deiters