All Saint's Day

Everyone understands that All Saint’s Day is November 1st, but how many Catholics really understand the point of All Saint’s Day? Here are few main reasons for the celebration of All Saint’s Day:

1. To give thanks to God.

2. To consider the holy example of the Saints.

3. To ask for intercession by the Saints.

4. To make up for any remiss in honoring the Saints on their particular feast days.

Ultimately, All Saints Day is a celebration of the men and women of God who have preceded us and are now enjoying heaven. Make a special point to recognize, honor, and meditate on the Saints and the examples they leave for us as a roadmap to heaven. Try and learn something new about your personal saint. Look at the life of your namesake. There are many good ways to honor the saints from which we descend in faith. We must however remember that they are there as examples. God does not “cookie cutter” saints. We must all look to the saints and then apply what we learn to our own life for our own time and in our own way. They show us the way, but we are not them. We must strive to live our own life not theirs. Blessed Pope John XXIII said it best:

“Practical experience has now convinced me of this: the concept of holiness which I had formed and applied to myself was mistaken. In every one of my actions, and in the little failings of which I was immediately aware, I used to call to mind the image of some saint whom I had set myself to imitate down to the smallest particular, as a painter makes an exact copy of a picture by Raphael. I used to say to myself: in this case St. Aloysius would have done so and so, or: he would not do this or that. However, it turned out that I was never able to achieve that I thought I could do, and this worried me. The method was wrong. From the saints I must take the substance, not the accidents of their virtues. I am not St. Aloysuis, nor must I seek holiness in his particular way, but according to the requirements of my own nature, my own character, and the different conditions of my life. I must not be the dry, bloodless reproduction of a model, however perfect…If St. Aloysius had been as I am, he would have become holy in a different way.”

Remember, we are saints in the making. Strive always for holiness and God will fill in the rest.

All Souls Day and Indulgences

Pray for the souls of priests.

First, remember that you can gain indulgences on All Souls and the days following.

Second, 5 November is a first Thursday. You can gain a plenary indulgence during this year for Priests.

Third, would it not be a good idea in this Year for Priests, during the week after All Souls, for this 1st Thursday, to pray in a special way for the souls of deceased priests?

May I recommend that you bring this up with your parish priests, who might make pulpit announcements this Sunday?

My thanks to Fr. Z for the idea.

Retreat

It is that wonderful time of year. The mid-terms are done and the term papers turned in (all for better or worse) and now it is time to look forward to finals. BUT!! Before we go there, there is a little treat. Three days of silence! AAAHHH! I can hear the silence ring in the ears now. No phone, no computer with its endless supply of e-mails, no textbooks, no 4:45 am wake-ups, no class, no echoing hallways, just blessed silence. All this and more! Included in this 3 day, 2 night package is a private bathroom and lots of time for prayer. OH JOY! OH RAPTURE! But wait…if you call in the next 15 minutes…


So, yes I am off to our quarterly 3-day retreat at the Cedar Creek Conference Center. This is a real gem of a place. For my long time (so to speak) readers, you will remember my comments and pictures of the place from last year. If you would like to see the pictures again (or if you haven’t seen them at all) click HERE. Remeber to give it a minute to load the pictures (there are 30 of them). This quarter our retreat director (we have a different director each time) is Fr. Jay Alvarez of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei. I hear he is wonderful so I am looking forward to the conferences.

I will keep each of you in my prayers this weekend and I ask that you also pray for me as I take time to encounter Our Lord. May God bless you. See you next week!

What a resume

Member of a board of a group that supports abortion services.

Ignores Church teaching.

Ignores the mandate of Catholic bishops.

Supports scandalous plays in an academic atmosphere.

Ignores Ex corde Ecclesiae.

Gives awards to pro-abortion politicians.

So what is this person qualified for? President of a Catholic University? Of Course!

Once again Notre Dame leads the way. Yes, Jenkins was appointed to a second 5 year term as President of Notre Dame. Unbelievable! So very disappointing!

I had held out some small hope that Jenkins was just working on his own. Unfortunately, this latest move by the trustees endorses all of his actions and makes them morally culpable with him. I must admit that, at least for the present, Notre Dame is lost. It can no longer be called a Catholic university. What a tragedy! If only they would remove the name.

Reunification

After many centuries of seperation, there is great joy and anticipation in the the Church today. Today great strides were made to bring our Anglican brothers home after their seperation from Rome in 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. Of course this comes from many years of hard work and there is much work yet to be done; nevertheless, this is truly a momentous occasion. I give you, below, the report directly from the Holy See Press Office.

VATICAN CITY, 20 OCT 2009 (VIS) -Today’s announcement of the Apostolic Constitution is a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and are willing to declare that they share a common Catholic faith and accept the Petrine ministry as willed by Christ for his Church.


Pope Benedict XVI has approved,