I absolutely ADORE the end of October and the month of November. Probably not for the reasons that you might expect though, as my reasons have not much to do with the usual ghosts or goblins or spooky graveyards, but everything to do with the Communion of Saints.
What is the Communion of Saints, you ask? Well, simplest explanation is that it’s everybody–the best, the better and the trying to be holy men and women.
The best are the Saints. These are people who are in union with God and have allowed their love for God and God’s love for them transform them into shining witnesses of His love and mercy.
The better are those faithful who have passed from this life to the next, but are not yet perfect in their love for God, or in allowing His love for them to completely make them be perfect as He is perfect.
The trying are everyone else. Best description I ever heard that sums up this state was, “There is a little bit of good in the worst of us, a little bit of bad in the best of us, and a whole lot of both in the rest of us.”
Most saints are in heaven with God, but there are some living, breathing and wonder-working saints present amongst the living here on earth.
Most of the better are either very near to God and are living like saints here on earth, but most of the better are Holy souls in Purgatory.
The trying are all around us. Very simply, the trying are you and me.
And that brings me back to why I adore this time of the year. Because as a Roman Catholic we celebrate the best on All Saints Day (November 1st), commemorate the better on All Souls (November 2nd) and remind the trying throughout the month of November that life is short and there is no time to waste when it comes to trying to love God with our whole hearts and minds–in other words, to become holy.
Or as Jesus instructed us, “You should strive to become perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Because the trying are trying to become holy even if they don’t realize it.
How so? Because the reality is that we were created for God, and as St Augustine once said, “our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O, Lord.”
And that reality is why all of us are hallowed. The definition of Hallowed in its most simplest is holy, and because we are created for God, by God, we are each hallowed creatures.
So during this time of the year when the days are getting shorter, and the leaves are falling, and the year is coming to an end, pause and ask yourself, how well am I trying to become the hallowed creature that I am created to be?
And then go rejoice that you still have time to try–even when the times might be a bit trying! (But that’s for another post!)
See you on the Way soon!
