Celebrating the communion of saints

The month of November is upon us and with it comes two most beautiful feasts of our Church year, the Solemnity of All Saints on Nov. 1 and the Feast of All Souls on Nov. 2.
 
Please keep in mind that the Solemnity of All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation and, as such, all Catholics who have achieved the age of reason, which is seven years of age, are obliged to attend and participate at Holy Mass that day. One of the many good restorations to our Sacred Liturgy enacted by the Second Vatican Council was the restoration of the Vigil Mass on the evening before our solemnities. The Vigil Mass, like Mass on the solemnity itself, fulfills our obligation to attend and participate at Holy Mass. The reason I mention this is because, too often, I will hear someone say that they could not get to Mass on the day itself due to work or another pressing obligation.
 
The Church, always a good and wise Mother to us all, has provided this solution for us so we do not need to miss Mass. It is quite another thing altogether not go to Mass on a Holy Day or any Sunday even though you know what your obligation to God is. This is why the Church, given the authority by Jesus to bind and loose in the Person and Name of Jesus, has said clearly that if we miss Sunday Mass or a Holy Day Mass through our own fault, that is a mortal sin and we must go to confession as soon as possible to repair the damage we have done to our relationship with God and the Church. Please make sure you go to Mass on Nov. 1 because it is the great festival celebration of our faith in the communion of saints, particularly, those holy women and men who have lived and died in Christ Jesus and now enjoy for all eternity heaven. Heaven, as we know, is simply being in the presence of God, having that beatific vision, seeing Him as He truly is and the saints have this to the full. They literally have what we still live and hope and pray to have.
 
All Souls Day on Nov. 2, while not a Holy Day of Obligation, is still such a great and glorious feast since we thank God for all of those holy women and men who will have heaven according to God’s providence. They await heaven in purgatory which is that real place of purgative love. There, they are cleansed of all venial sins and the effects of sin with which they may have died and not made reparation for in their earthly lives. They can no longer do that for themselves and the souls in purgatory rely on us and our prayers, good works and sacrifices offered to God on their behalf to assist them in that cleansing so that they, too, like the saints will enjoy the beatific vision.
 
Finally, these two beautiful feasts remind us that we also belong to the great communion of saints and while we can assist the holy souls in purgatory, the saints in heaven assist us on earth by their continuous prayers and by the good examples they have given us while they lived among us. What a glorious communion of brothers and sisters we belong to!
 
How can any of us not want to celebrate this relationship made possible for us by Our Lord Jesus when He became “a man like us in all things but sin?” Please, go to Mass on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 if you can. Let us all pray for each other.