...AT WHOSE FESTIVAL THE ANGELS REJICE!

iT IS A SPOOKY TIME. The shadows lemgthen. The days go shorter. Even here in the desert, the wind cools out of the north. It is the time to remember the dead--all of them, saints and sinners.

For the ancient Celts of Ireland, it was Samhrain--a thin time in a thin place where the spirits of the dead hovered close. Out of that ancient pagan celebration emerged our Halloween!

Yet It is a sobering thought that within a few generations we shall all be forgotten. No one will visit our overgrown grass covered graves.

Even the greatest of our times shall at best merit a brief mention on the stale parchments of history.

"Sic transit gloria mundi!"

So passes the glory of the world, and so shall we.

And this is the season of passing: leaves flutter to the ground. The arms of trees are bared.

November is a somber month, a time of passage for all living things.

So we too shall be forgotten in the rush of time and passing history.

OR SHALL WE?

How consoling a thought that as long as Eucharist is celebrated, until Christ comes in all his glory, we shall not be forgotten, for we shall be remembered at every Eucharist:

AS 'THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED!"

And so now in our own time we remember first of all on November 1, ALL the saints wh have gone before us into the heavenly realm, and ON NOV. 2, WE REMEMBER all those who are still on the way toward that eternal goal.

"Beloved, see what love the Father has bestowed upon us!...we are God's chldren now; what we shall be as not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed, we shall belkie him, for we shall see him a he is."

JN 1: 2nd Reading

in today's Gospel, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes: kind of upside down and backwards blessings: not as the world counts them, but as God does:

"The poor in spirit,, the mourners, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, the clean hearted, the peacemakers, the persecuted," ...a motley crew?

No, they are the saints who we are to follow on our way to the Kingdom.

 And tomorrow: All Souls: How consoling that we join with them in prayer in what we call "the Communion of Saints.

[ Bring them, name by name to mind now, one by one. They once walked with you, loved you, cared for you. Now walk with them as they cimplete their heavenly journey:]

............................................................................................................

And so we pray:

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May all of these souls,

of our faithful departed,

through the mercy of God

rest in pece.

Amen