THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS: OUR VOCATION TO HOLINESS

I. Why Do We Celebrate the Feast of All Saints?

We celebrate the Feast of All Saints on November 1st to honor all those who attained holiness and now rejoice eternally in the presence of God in Heaven.

The Church honors not only the canonized saints, whose names we know, but also an innumerable multitude of unknown saints: men, women, young people, and children who faithfully lived their faith, loved God, and persevered to the end.

Holy Scripture tells us:

“After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9).

This feast reminds us that Heaven exists, that eternal life is our true homeland, and that God created us to know Him, love Him, and enjoy His presence for all eternity.

II. What Is the Importance of This Feast?

This solemnity is of extraordinary importance for five reasons:

1) It reminds us of our vocation: we are all called to holiness. Holiness is not a privilege reserved for priests, religious, or extraordinary individuals. Every baptized person must strive to become a saint.

2) It shows us that holiness is possible: the saints were people just like us, with difficulties, temptations, sufferings, and struggles. Through God's grace, they overcame sin and persevered in doing good.

3) It teaches us the true meaning of life: we were not born merely to work, earn money, enjoy material possessions, or achieve worldly success. We were born to save our souls and attain eternal life.

4) It reminds us of the Communion of Saints: the saints in Heaven are our brothers and sisters and our friends. We can ask for their intercession and follow their example.

5) It encourages us to fight against sin: no one can attain holiness while deliberately living in sin. We need conversion, penance, prayer, and God's grace.

III. What Spiritual Fruits Can We Obtain from This Solemnity?

We can obtain many important spiritual fruits:

A greater love for God and a sincere desire to attain Heaven.

Greater confidence in the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.

A firmer rejection of sin and of all occasions that lead us away from God.

A desire to live in God's grace.

Greater fidelity to Holy Mass, Confession, and prayer.

A renewal of our family and Christian life.

Supernatural hope in the face of difficulties, suffering, and death.

A desire to imitate the virtues of the saints: their humility, purity, charity, obedience, patience, and spirit of sacrifice.

The saints teach us that true happiness does not lie in accumulating wealth, pleasures, or worldly recognition, but in loving God above all things and remaining faithful to Him.

IV. How Can We, Too, Attain Holiness?

Holiness is not attained through good intentions alone. We must cooperate with God's grace and work daily toward our sanctification.

Here are ten practical means:

1. Live in God's grace: Avoid mortal sin and frequently receive the Sacrament of Confession.

2. Attend Holy Mass every Sunday: Participate with faith, devotion, and reverence, and receive Holy Communion worthily.

3. Pray daily: Set aside time for prayer, the Holy Rosary, and meditation on the Word of God.

4. Practice virtue: Fight against our faults and cultivate humility, patience, purity, obedience, and charity.

5. Keep the Ten Commandments: Obey God's law not merely outwardly, but also with our hearts.

6. Practice penance and mortification: Learn to renounce our whims, master our passions, and offer our sacrifices to God.

7. Practice the works of mercy: Help those in need, forgive offenses, console the afflicted, and teach the truth to those who do not know it.

8. Read and study the Catechism: Deepen our knowledge of the faith so that we may live it, defend it, and pass it on to our children.

9. Sanctify ourselves through our daily duties: Fulfill our family, professional, and social responsibilities well, out of love for God.

10. Persevere until death: Do not become discouraged after our falls; rise again through God's grace and continually strive for our sanctification.

Saint Paul exhorts us:

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

And Our Lord Jesus Christ commands us:

“Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48).

V. A Concrete Commitment for Our Families

The Feast of All Saints should bring about a true change in our lives and in our homes.

Let us resolve to:

Pray the Holy Rosary together every day.

Attend Holy Mass every Sunday.

Go to Confession frequently.

Teach our children about the lives of the saints.

Avoid sins and forms of entertainment contrary to our faith.

Perform at least one act of charity every day.

Ask each day for the grace to become better Christians.

                                   -oOo-

CONCLUSION: WE WERE MADE TO BE SAINTS!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be content with being Christians in name only. Let us not settle for a mediocre, lukewarm life, or one that is distant from God.

We are called to be saints!

Let us never forget that our earthly life is passing, that death will come, and that one day we will stand before God. What will truly matter is whether we have loved God, kept His commandments, lived in His grace, and persevered in the faith.

Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of All Saints, to obtain for us from her Divine Son the grace to live holy lives and die in His friendship.

May we one day be reunited with all the saints in Heaven, to contemplate, love, and praise God for all eternity. Amen.

Catholics do not dress up as demons

 

IT IS NOT CHARITY TO TOLERATE ERROR: SAINT PIUS X

"The Catholic doctrine teaches us that the first duty of charity does not consist in tolerating erroneous opinions, however sincere they may be, nor in theoretical or practical indifference toward the error or vice into which we see our brethren have fallen, but rather in zeal for their intellectual and moral improvement, no less than in zeal for their material well-being. This same Catholic doctrine also teaches us that the source of love for our neighbor is found in the love of God, our common Father and the common end of the entire human family, and in the love of Jesus Christ, whose members we are, to such an extent that relieving a person in distress is doing good to Jesus Christ Himself. Every other kind of love is an illusion or a sterile and fleeting sentiment."

Encyclical Letter Notre Charge Apostolique, by His Holiness Pope Saint Pius X, August 15, 1910.

PRAYER TO JESUS IN THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT

Behold me, O my beloved and good Jesus, prostrate before Your most holy presence. I beseech You with the greatest fervor of which I am capable to imprint deeply upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, true sorrow for my sins, and the firmest resolve never again to offend You.

As I, with all the love and compassion of which I am capable, consider and contemplate Your five holy wounds, I call to mind the words spoken of You by the holy Prophet David: “They have pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones.”

Amen.

THE BETRAYAL OF JUDAS (On Sacrilegious Communion)

If you are in a state of mortal sin, you must not receive Holy Communion unless you have first made a good confession to a Catholic priest. Whoever receives Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin, as St. Paul teaches, eats and drinks his own condemnation. In order to receive Holy Communion, you must confess in the Sacrament of Penance all the mortal sins committed since your last good confession (made with true contrition and a firm purpose of amendment).

DISCIPLE. — Why is sacrilegious Communion called “the betrayal of Judas”?

MASTER. — You already know that Judas, driven by greed and fascinated by the offers made by the scribes and Pharisees, resolved to sell Jesus for the paltry and vile price of thirty pieces of silver.

D. — Yes, Father, I know that.

M. — Well then, having concluded that infamous bargain, he offered to accompany the henchmen who were to seize the Divine Master and hand Him over to them.

Knowing that Jesus was praying in the Garden of Olives, he joined the henchmen and said to them as he entered: “Be careful not to make a mistake! The One I kiss on the forehead is Jesus. Seize Him and bind Him.”

Meanwhile, Jesus, hearing the noise, stepped forward. And Judas—the traitor Judas—although deep within his heart he felt the pangs of a guilty conscience warning him, also approached, embraced Him, and kissed Him, saying: “Hail, Rabbi! Greetings, Master!”

The greatest sacrilege the ages had ever witnessed was now accomplished! Judas withdrew and, in despair, went and hanged himself from the branch of a tree.

D. — Oh, how wicked Judas was!

M. — Yes, Judas was wicked; but those who approach Holy Communion unworthily are even worse. Judas committed sacrilege only once, whereas these people repeat it frequently, and for that reason they are far worse than Judas.

D. — What are you saying, Father? You frighten me!

M. — It is indeed something to be horrified by, but it is the reality. You see, in most cases, those who have committed sacrilege for the first time almost instinctively become accustomed to it. Once they have betrayed Jesus Christ, they betray Him a second time, a third time, a hundred times, perhaps for years on end, and who knows, even until death, imitating Judas to the letter.

Like Judas, they know perfectly well that Jesus Christ is truly and really present in the Most Holy Eucharist. They enter the church and approach the Communion rail, just as Judas approached Jesus. They wait for Him to be brought near by the hands of the priest, and then, with a conscience plunged into terrible anguish by the torment of remorse, they give Jesus the kiss of sacrilege.

D. — Wretched souls!

M. — Most wretched indeed, you should say! Listen:

When Jesus, at the Last Supper, rebuked the Apostles, telling them that soon one of those seated at table with Him, the one who dipped his bread into His dish, would betray Him, He exclaimed, referring to Judas: “It would have been better for him had he never been born.”

Then it would have been a thousand times better had sacrilegious communicants never been born, for then they would not have trampled upon the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and there would have been fewer souls condemned to Hell.

You have surely read in Roman history the account of the Emperor Julius Caesar. This great emperor, called the lord of nations, who had greatly expanded and enriched his empire, was planning further conquests when his days came to an end at the hands of a terrible conspiracy plotted against him by those whom he had most favored. The ringleader of that conspiracy was a man named Brutus, whom Caesar regarded as a son and upon whom he had bestowed honors and rewards.

When Caesar found himself surrounded by rebels who, with daggers raised, sought to kill him, and when he saw his beloved Brutus among the foremost of them, brandishing his dagger, he exclaimed:

“Brutus, you too, my son?”

And, covering his face with his mantle, he fell, pierced by twenty-three dagger wounds.

Well then, every time Jesus sees a sacrilegious communicant approaching Holy Communion, He covers His face and cries out in terrible anguish:

“Is it you too, Christian, you whom I have redeemed at the price of My Blood, My most beloved child—is it you too who betray Me?”

— Oh, what horror, my God, what horror!

Rev. José Luis Chiavarino. Receive Holy Communion Worthily (Comulgad bien).

THE GULLIBLE ONES

LIVE AS YOU THINK, OR ELSE YOU WILL END UP THINKING AND DYING THE WAY YOU LIVE

Jesus Christ, our Savior, will one day come in glory to judge all mankind. "The Son of Man is to come in the glory of his Father... and he will repay each one according to his deeds" (Mt 16:27).

Now, Christ offers Himself to us as a merciful Savior; then, He will appear as a just Judge. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Cor 5:10). Nothing will remain hidden from Him (Heb 4:13).

Therefore, we must prepare ourselves by living in the grace of God, shunning sin, keeping the Commandments, making sincere confessions, doing penance, practicing charity, and persevering in prayer.

And, above all, let us remain steadfast until death in the true Christian faith—the Catholic faith. Let us not abandon the Church founded by Jesus Christ to follow sects or Protestant doctrines. "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68).

Let us live today as we would wish to have lived when the hour of our death arrives.