ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN NOVEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 1st of November
Feasts, Solemnities, and Liturgical Seasons
ALL SAINTS
The Church in this great festival honours all the saints reigning together in glory;
1. to give thanks to God for the graces and crowns of all his elect;
2. to excite ourselves to a fervent imitation of their virtues by considering the holy example of so many faithful servants of God of all ages, sexes, and conditions, and by contemplating the inexpressible and eternal bliss which they already enjoy, and to which we are invited;
3. to implore the divine mercy through this multitude of powerful intercessors;
4. to repair any failures or sloth in not having duly honoured God in his saints on their particular festivals, and to glorify him in the saints which are unknown to us, or for which no particular festivals are appointed.
ONE SOLEMN COMMEMORATION
Therefore our fervour on this day ought to be such, that it may be a reparation of our sloth in all the other feasts of the year; they being all comprised in this one solemn commemoration, which is an image of that eternal great feast which God himself continually celebrates in heaven with all his saints, whom we humbly join in praising his adorable goodness for all his mercies, particularly for all treasures of grace which he has most munificently heaped upon them.
In this and all other festivals of the saints, God is the only object of supreme worship, and the whole of that inferior veneration which is paid to the saints is directed to give sovereign honour to God alone, whose gifts their graces are: and our addresses to them are only petitions to holy fellow-creatures for the assistance of their prayers to God for us.
PRAISE AND THANK GOD
In all feasts of saints, especially in this solemn festival of All Saints, it ought to be the first part of our devotion to praise and thank God for the infinite goodness he has displayed in favour of his elect. A primary and most indispensable homage we owe to God, is that of praise, the first act of love, and complacency in God and his adorable perfections. This is the uninterrupted sweet employment of the blessed in heaven to all eternity.
With what infinite condescension and tenderness does the Lord of all things watch over every one of his elect! With what unspeakable invisible gifts does he adorn them! And with what honour has he crowned them!
HIS GIFTS ALONE IN US HE CROWNS
To what an immense height of immortal glory has he raised them! and by what means? His grace conducted them by humility, patience, charity, and penance, through ignominies, torments, pains, sorrows, mortifications, and temptations to joy and bliss, by the cross to their crowns.
And casting their crowns before his throne they give to him all the glory of their triumphs. "His gifts alone in us he crowns."
We are called upon with the whole church militant on earth to join the church triumphant in heaven in praising and thanking our most merciful God for the graces and glory he has bestowed on his saints.
CONTEMPT OF THE INCONSTANT, PERISHABLE, AND FALSE HONOURS OF THIS WORLD
How does their immortality inspire us with a contempt of the inconstant, perishable, and false honours of this world! How does the unspeakable joy of that state, which satisfies all the desires, and fills the whole capacity of the heart, make us sovereignly despise the false empty pleasures of this life, and trample under our feet the threats and persecutions of a blind world, with all that we can suffer from it or in it!
THERE IS BUT ONE GOSPEL AND BUT ONE REDEEMER
There is but one Gospel, but one Redeemer and divine Legislator, Jesus Christ, and but one Heaven. No other road can lead us thither but that which he has traced out to us: the rule of salvation laid down by him is invariable. It is a most pernicious and false persuasion, either that Christians in the world are not bound to aim at perfection, or that they may be saved by a different path from that of the saints.
"AS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT"
The torrent of example in the world imperceptibly instils this error into the minds of many, - that there is a kind of middle way of going to heaven: and under this notion, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level or standard of the world. It is not by the example of the world that we are to measure the Christian rule, but by the pure maxims of the gospel. All Christians are commanded to labour to become holy and perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.
WE MUST STUDY TO DIE TO OURSELVES
We must study to die to ourselves. By the frequent use of the sacraments, assiduous prayer, pious reading, or meditation, and the practice of devout aspirations, we must unite our souls to God. This crucifixion of self-love and union of our hearts to God are the two general means by which the Spirit of Christ must be formed and daily improved in us, and by which we shall be imitators of the saints.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
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