Vol.6 No.9 DoM E Message
Spiritual Gift of the Week
During this week, as we celebrate the Feast of All Saints,
we pray for the grace to always remember God’s promise of eternal life
so that we may be worthy to “see Him as He really is.”
We ask for the intercession of Mary, His Mother,
who knew and loved Him, and could “see Him as He really is.”.
Spiritual Instruction of the Week
The saints assist us in our prayer.
Our prayer joins with the prayers of all the saints in heaven and on earth.
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Dear Beautiful Daughters of Mary,
Many thanks to Ingrid Franklin who delivered a lovely and excellent catechesis on the prayer of the Saints. Please read, reflect and enjoy:
Happy All Saints Day!
The Solemnity of All Saints is one of my most dearly loved feast days in the Church. I adore the opportunity we have to celebrate all of our favorite saints. It also marks for me the beginning of some of my most favorite Holidays. But more importantly we celebrate the patronage of the saints through the Mystical Body of Christ in Communion with the Saints. Many people who do not understand our faith have asked me questions such as why do we pray to saints, isn’t it idolatry keeping statues or pictures of saints in your home or Church and what do you mean when you say communion of saints? I often answer them first with a smile because I really get excited and eager to express how much these holy persons mean to our faith.
Why do we pray to saints? Well, I let them know unequivocally that we pray with saints not to them! Then, I simply ask them how many times you have asked someone to pray for you or with you when you were sick or in your time of trouble. And why did you ask that person to pray for you? Did you ask that person to pray for you because you think they are a great prayer warrior, or a very holy person who is close to God or because they are a strong person of faith? Well those are the same reasons we ask saints to pray with us in our times of suffering. The Saints led very holy lives and are close to God in heaven, some even lost their lives because of their faith. That is why we choose these holy persons to assist us in prayer. Is it Idolatrous to keep statues or pictures of saints? I love answering that question with this one: Do you worship the pictures of your loved ones in your wallet or on your wall at home? Neither do we worship the pictures of our saints. They are reminders to us of how deeply we should love God and they make us feel less alone in our struggles here on earth. They also serve as an inspiration to us to continue in the faith and stand strong no matter what we go through.
Lastly, when someone asks, what do we mean when we say “Communion of Saints”? I read directly from my Pocket Catholic Catechism: where it states, “The Church founded by Christ has three levels of existence. She is the Church Militant on earth, The Church Suffering in purgatory, and the Church Triumphant in heaven. After the last day, there will be only the Church Triumphant in heavenly glory. It is understood that there is communication among these three levels of the Mystical Body. Those on earth invoke the saints in heaven and pray for the souls in purgatory. Those in heaven pray for the Church Militant and the Church Suffering; they obtain graces for us on earth and an alleviation of suffering for the poor souls. Those in purgatory can invoke the saints on high and pray for us struggling with the world, the flesh, and the evil spirit. We might, then describe the Communion of Saints as the unity and cooperation of the whole Church. Together, we all form one Mystical Body. We share our merits and prayers with one another for the greater glory of God and the up-building of Christ’s Body which is His Church.”
Don’t you want to be in that number of saints when they come marching in? I know I do! Being in fellowship with saints is the spiritual solidarity which binds together the faithful on earth and the saints in heaven. It is an organic unity of the same mystical body under Christ its head, and in a constant interchange of supernatural offices. The participants in that solidarity are called saints by reasons of their destination and of their partaking of the fruits of their redemption. (I Cor. 1:20) as stated in the Catholic encyclopedia.
Some people I convince and the ones I don’t, well I pray for them and invoke St. Gabriel the patron saint of Communications to help them understand what 1 just explain to them. It is as simple as stated in the song ” We are traveling in the footsteps of the ones who’ve gone before, but we all will be reunited (But if we stand reunited on the new and sunlit shore, (Then a new world is in store). When the saints go marching in, O Lord I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in!
Once again, Happy All Saints Day!
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As we approach the 2016 Presidential Election it may be helpful to pray and reflect upon the words of Pope Francis, spoken this year on All Saints Day. His counsel addresses our call to be saintly as we acknowledge God’s sovereign and merciful presence in our hearts and in our world:
“The saints bring about change through meekness of heart. With that meekness, we come to understand the grandeur of God and worship him with sincere hearts…We are called to be blessed, to be followers of Jesus, to confront the troubles and anxieties of our age with the spirit and love of Jesus. Thus we ought to be able to recognize and respond to new situations with fresh spiritual energy.”
Veni, Spirito Santo, la misericordia di Dio ci salva—
Come Holy Spirit, it is by God’s mercy that we are saved,
Deb
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