Next week we enter the month of November. For us as Catholics it is a month that reminds us of the finality of our time of trial during our life in this world. That is, we place our attention on death.

 

But we do that in a most positive way. We honor on Nov. 1 all the saints of all times and places. And on Nov. 2, we pray for the final unification in joy and holiness with God on the part of all the future saints who are in purgatory.

 

We celebrate All Saints Day next Tuesday. On one level that seems to be an occasion to honor those whose response to grace in a variety of circumstances has been recognized by the Church over the centuries. They could include martyrs, holy men and women, or saintly popes. That alone would be an encouragement to the practice of our faith.

 

Saints, however, are not only those who are formally recognized by canonization. They are any who have been tried and found worthy during their lifetime (Wis 3:5). That means they could be our holy grandmother, that grade-school teacher who taught us the faith or that person we have read about in the paper who gave great example by living a moral life and helping the needy in an exceptional way. Those saints whose holiness was in daily tasks give us great hope since, for most of us, it will be the path by which the Lord tests our love and leads us to heaven.

 

Our love for the holy souls in purgatory should be equally strong since they will one day be saints.

 They too have died and been found worthy, but are still in need of further purification. Since God is all holy, He can have nothing of sin and darkness in His kingdom. In purgatory, the future saints receive God’s continuing mercy for their final and complete preparation to enter the Father’s house.

 

Here again we are given cause for great hope as a part of our faith. This understanding of purgatory tells us that we need not die “perfect” in order to please the Lord. In His love for us and having shared our humanity in all things but sin, he knows our weaknesses. Even after going to Mass and confession and striving for holiness, we can come up short. How loving God is to allow for this final cleansing from the vestiges of sin and self-centeredness even after death.

 

Taken together, these feasts and this month of November as a whole, are a response to one of the great challenges of our modern culture. That is the excessive fear of death.

 

Wounded by original sin, we have built into us the fear first experienced by Adam and Eve who, after their fall, tried to hide from God in the Garden of Eden. We share the loss of God’s friendship brought about by the abuse of freedom by our first parents. And in our weakness, we have ratified their choice by our own sinfulness. The resulting distance from God causes us to be afraid.

 

But in thinking about the death of Christ for us, the lives of the saints and the hope and mercy of purgatory, we can begin to see our own death differently. It is the doorway to meeting Jesus face to face. Then we will find that all that He promised and told us is true. His mercy will endure forever. We can live our lives then, not in fear but consoled by what awaits.

 

Happy November to all. The month of the saints, the souls, and our calm and trusting hope for eternal life.