Dear Brothers and Sisters,
November is traditionally a month of remembrance, but it is also a month of hope. On All Saints Day we remember all the holy men and women of God who have served him on earth and now rejoice in heaven, that place of supreme and definitive happiness which the catechism of the Catholic Church describes as ‘perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity—this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed.’ But as well as remembrance, the feast fills us with great hope, for among the saints in heaven are almost certainly some whom we have known, whose earthly lives and love of God were much like our own. We too are called to holiness. And to fulfil our hope of joining the saints in heaven we must seek to follow those saints in faith and hope and love.
On All Souls Day we remember all those who have died, both those who have already entered into the divine presence and also those who have died in God’s grace but who still await a final purification to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. It is a day of prayer and hope for the future, that all our departed loved ones, those we have known or those we have worshipped with in our church, particularly those whose names will be read out during our Mass, may come to share in the beatific vision.
On November 8th we mark Remembrance Sunday in church when we give thanks for the courage and sacrifice of those who served in war, and remember the terrible cost of conflict. Yet, as we look at the continuing wars and suffering in our world, Ukraine, the Holy Land, the Middle East, Sudan, Yemen, Myanmar, and so many other places, we should use our Remembrance Sunday not only to look backwards but to look with hope for the future. On All Saints Day we will have heard Jesus say ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God’. So our act of remembrance at the memorial altar must not be simply ceremonial but must also strengthen our determination to work for peace. Peace is not simply the end of existing warfare, though we hope and pray for that; peace calls for an end to future conflict, for cooperation over hostility, forgiveness and understanding over hatred. We want an end to war, but we also want an end to hatred that can lead to war and unrest, the hatred sadly seen in some of the protest marches in our own country in recent months.
The month of November falls in the middle of Autumn, that time when it may seem that nature has died. We have held our harvest festival, so that, with the grain gathered in, the fields look empty. The leaves are falling and some of the trees are looking decidedly skeletal; the flower beds that were full of colour a few weeks ago look largely bare. But beneath the soil, the roots are still alive; the bulbs we’ve planted are preparing to bloom in spring. Nature may look dead, but is only dormant.
We may sometimes wonder if God has taken some time off, has gone dormant like Mother Nature, as we see continuing conflicts, people suffering hardship and illness, homelessness, our prayers seeming to go unanswered and our hopes fading or appearing dashed. But God does not take time off and our faith reminds us that God’s work is not always visible nor immediate. Like our bulbs and the roots of our plants, God’s work often takes place quietly, beneath the surface. We make our prayers on All Saints Day. All Souls Day and Remembrance Sunday in the hope and belief that God will answer them, and we may be sure that our prayers will not go unanswered – even if they are not always answered as quickly or in the way we would hope.
The end of November marks the end of the old church year and the start of the new. Advent begins on 29th November, and it is a time of waiting and watching. Let us also make it a time of hope.
Blessings
Fr Christopher
