As we come to the closing days of October and the beginning of November, we are in a time of year that is more than simply the middle of the fall season. This is a season filled with insights and reminders of faith that can serve our prayers and reflections throughout the year.
Because we are in the month of October, we join the faithful of the ages in honoring Mary, particularly through the recitation of the rosary. Since 1571, when Pope Pius V urged the Christian faithful to pray the rosary for the intention of the Catholic league fleet, which subsequently defeated the Ottoman empire navy, the rosary has been a unifying and powerful prayer.
It is unifying because its recitation by the faithful has been constant and widely present in many cultures and places. Its power has been recognized as a tool of intercession and catechesis.
The praying of the rosary has been recognized for generations as a means of drawing closer to Mary, the mother to whom we were entrusted by Jesus in His dying moments on the cross. Through Mary’s motherly intercession, the rosary has brought a deepening of faith and peace in souls and in families.
The reflections contained in the mysteries of the rosary, starting with the conversation between the Angel Gabriel and Mary and concluding with honoring Mary as Queen of heaven, have reminded generations of the life of Jesus and the promise of eternal union with Him in heaven.
Soon we will begin the month of November by celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints. That might be an occasion to recall again and perhaps offer a prayer to a favorite saint whose life story inspires or attracts us. That personal relationship with one of the saints reminds us that we continue to share the goal of heaven with those who even now wait in glory, desiring us to be with them.
However, the essence of being a saint is a life of holiness that has merited the saint’s entry into heaven. On that basis, there are many saints beyond those known or canonized. Some might even be members of our own family. Others will be those hidden, holy, and perhaps anonymous, people who have quietly lived lives of prayer and charity in imitation of Jesus. They too are saints and the Feast of All Saints, a holy day of obligation (though not this year), not only honors them but draws us into union with them as part of God’s holy people.
On Nov. 2, we then have the holy tradition of praying for the repose of the souls of the dead on the Feast of All Souls. That day gives us a special reminder of the reality of purgatory. Purgatory is not a place, at least not as we conceive of it in this world. Rather, it is God’s goodness in granting that we may be purified, even after death, of any sins or imperfections from our sinful lives as we prepare to meet God in perfect holiness.
That gift of final purification for the souls of the dead is assisted by the union of prayers of us, the living, on their behalf. This is one of the great signs of hope proclaimed by our Catholic faith. The saints pray for us, the living. We, the living, pray for the souls of the deceased in purgatory for their final purification. And we take comfort that should we find ourselves in that final moment of purification, we can hope as well for the prayers of those still in this world.
We are not far from Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent. But until then, our faith is nourished each fall by feasts and prayers that remind us of the final goal for us which is eternal life with Christ.
