The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,  and no torment shall touch them. Their hope is full of immortality. Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of Himself. Like gold in the furnace He tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them. In the time of their visitation they will shine forth, and will run like sparks through stubble (Wisdom 3:1, 4, 7).

As we approach the end of the liturgical year and enter into the month of November, the Church celebrates two beautiful and complementary feasts, which unite the three parts of the Church: The Church Militant (Christians on Earth), The Church Suffering (Christians in Purgatory), and The Church Triumphant (Christians in Heaven).

On November 1^st we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints. We rejoice in the fact that there are countless people – those whom we name among the communion of saints – and the countless unnamed persons who have gone before us who are now enjoying the glories of Heaven. We are reminded that we are called to become Saints. As Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, once said: “those who wish to enter Heaven must be saints. Sanctity must be achieved in our lifetime. We are here for no other reason.” That’s a rallying cry and an invitation to hope, because as Saint John reminds us, “we are God’s children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed” (1 John 3:2). Please God – we’ll be saints.

On November 2^nd we celebrated All Souls Day. On that day, and throughout the month of November, we pray in a special way for all who have died, that they may be among the Communion of Saints, and that they persevere, with the help of our prayers, as with the help of God’s purifying love, they become the saints they were meant to be all along. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect (CCC 1030-1031).”

Through Christ’s victory over death and sin, and through this final purification, God, in God’s justice and infinite mercy, has found a way for us to make it to Heaven, which we certainly could not merit on our own. As one writer put it, “purification of all attachment to sin is a mercy beyond what we can imagine. Through this final purification, God prepares the holy souls who have died for an eternity of joy.” Just as we celebrate all the saints on All Saints Day, on All Souls Day, we, as the Church on earth, gather and pray for all the souls in purgatory (even those we don’t know) with whom we share a common bond as brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.

In anticipation of both feasts, Grace Carrol (assistant chaplain), Angel Trujillo (facilities) and I ran the inaugural STM All Saints Day Dash. The race consisted of two rectangular loops around the interior of Cross Campus, a distance of just under 600 meters. The lead up to the race began several weeks ago, with some playful banter between Angel and Grace as to who was faster. With all the smack-talking leading up to the day and a healthy dose of race-day tension and anxiety, the three of us stepped onto the line with a spirit of hope and good will, and, in the words of Harold Abrahams from the film, Chariots of Fire, we “raise[d] [our] eyes and look[ed] down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with [about 110] lonely seconds to justify [our] whole existence.” It was quite a race, made all the more intense by light rain, tight turns and fallen leaves on slippery stones. By the race’s end, my 20+ years of experience as a veteran distance runner and Angel’s explosive speed were no match for Grace, who with her graceful stride and consistently quick but measured pace handily won the day. A fine tribute to the Saints, and a sacrificial offering for all of our beloved ones who are making their way to Heaven.