Who Are Our Saints?

As we move through October more quickly than I'd like, I'm looking at Halloween decorations and thinking that by now everyone must know the connection between Halloween and All Saints/All Souls day, right?

If you don't, simply, quickly, All Hallow's Eve, the vigil for All Saints day, with the addition of folk customs and local traditions over time morphed into the crazy, fun, candy filled night we call Halloween. If you've seen the movie "Coco", you may have recognized that some of the customs that appear in a celebration for The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) are similar in many ways to our Halloween.

There's much fun in this celebration, and for many, as seen in "Coco" a real and deep desire to remember and honor our ancestors. If you haven't seen this particular Disney movie, it is both moving and beautiful.

So who are our ancestors in faith? Whose shoulders do we stand on? Who do we celebrate when we remember All Saints and All Souls Day? Do we still need saints today?

What do you think?
Church history has taught us that saints arise at our most troubled times, when the world is in darkness and needs to be called back into the light. During times of war and revolution great souls have arisen to give their people hope, to remind them of God's faithful love.

This Sunday the church officially recognizes one such hero: we will canonize Blessed Oscar Romero, the Bishop Martyr of El Salvador. Hopefully we will hear much about him at Mass this weekend and there's a great bio-pic starring Raul Julia that you can watch. A brief synopsis of his amazing life would look something like this:

Bishop of El Salvador--unaware of extreme poverty of his people--living a life of church power broker in a third world country--suddenly shocked when one of his priests (Rutilio Grande, SJ) was murdered for teaching the Gospel message of justice and peace for all God's people--suddenly became aware of the terrible injustices the government was inflicting on his people--began to speak up for human rights for the Salvadoran people--was murdered by the army while celebrating Mass (at the consecration!) for speaking the Gospel.

St Oscar, as well as Fr Grande, and the four women religious and lay workers who were killed, the other Jesuits and their staff, all these people were murdered for believing in the Gospel of Jesus. This isn't ancient history, it happened in the 1980's. Less than 50 years ago.

Should it frighten us to think that we are called to sainthood as well? No it shouldn't be frightening at all. Living holiness is a matter of living authentically who God has created us to be. For Oscar, it meant learning about the lives of his people and speaking in their defense. For you or I it might mean treating someone politely in a conversation when we disagree and believing we can still be friends despite the disagreement. Perhaps for us it may mean treating our elderly, ill parent with love and care no matter how many times she asks the same question. Could it mean teaching our NYC children how to treat the unfortunate homeless on the street with dignity and respect?

Not all of us are called to be holy in big flashy ways. Like one of our newer saints (Mother Teresa)said so often: Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
So it is with sanctity, holiness, we can all be holy in every day ways. Every day.

As we celebrate with our church the life of St Oscar Romero, let us commit ourselves this week to finding the everyday little moments of holiness in our lives and celebrate those as well. Amen.

Look at Where You're Going!

As we start to approach the end of the church  year, the readings are very 'end times' and it gives us much to ponder. A recent Gospel reminded us that if we 'put our hand to the plow, we'd best not be looking behind us, but paying attention to where we are going. Like the magnet on my fridge says: Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

When I think about the plowing image...or, in contemporary times maybe Jesus would be saying something like "look up from your phone once in awhile and pay attention to what's in front of you!" I wonder what Jesus is really asking us? My guess is, it's a question of trust. Do we trust God enough, believe in God's word enough to know that the path God has set us on will lead to life, and to good things? I suspect if we're not sure, we'll keep looking over our shoulder wondering about the what if's and what could have beens. In the end, wondering about the road not taken doesn't really help me move forward in life does it?

Sometimes, like my beloved niece Danielle, all we can do is take the opportunity that is given to us and run with it. Receiving the possibility of a second job offer on the day you begin your very first adult job is disconcerting for sure. God does like to mess around in our lives doesn't God? What do we do? I firmly believe that if we have made what we think is the best possible decision for ourselves, then when other options present themselves, if the timing isn't right, we need to be grateful for the offer, and be faithful to what we have already chosen in good conscience. How many times in life have we learned that choosing one path necessitates letting go of another? I think we find happiness on the journey if we walk confidently down our chosen path knowing that God will be with us, leading and guiding us into new life and wonderful surprises.

I pray that we all have the courage to follow the path that God has shown us, and that we find much joy on the journey.