Happy November and Being Grateful for Those We Remember
What a great start to this beautiful “Thanksgiving” month with a day that celebrates our heroes of faith! It is All Saints Day and it’s not just to remember them, but it encourages us to imitate them. So many devoted their lives to God and were Christ’s Light bearers. Many were martyred for their faith. I’m ever grateful to live in this century where we can strive to be living saints. Holy men and women know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how dependent on God they are. So, they call on Him each day, confident that they can do whatever God asks of them. We can all become saints.
Today, we celebrate all the saints, including those unnamed men and women — people who have quietly served and laid down their lives out of love for their brothers and sisters. You might even know someone you consider a saint because of their love and dedication to the Lord. God made it possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection, for us to have access to all the grace we need to walk the path of holiness. So, as we celebrate the saints today, let’s also celebrate the gift of grace we have all been given by our God whose love for us is unfailing.
Tomorrow is All Souls Day, when we acknowledge our loved ones who died, and we embrace our memories with them and the great hope of meeting up with them in heaven. On this day, I recall my precious grandmother who introduced me to my future husband, my fiery-preacher grandfather, my angel mom, and wonderful dad, my beloved husband, all three of my siblings and many others who influenced and impacted my life. On this day I get to admit that I miss them and I’m not even ashamed to shed a few tears for them. After all, Jesus wept over the death of His friend, Lazarus. I don’t shed tears because I lack faith or because my faith is weak. I shed tears because I miss them. It’s okay. It’s just temporary for me because I carry on with the joy of seeing them one day soon.
Two beautiful days in a row to celebrate. Those of us who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, look at death as leaving our “temporary” home on earth to go to our home sweet, eternal home in heaven. There are many who consider death an unpleasant topic and don’t even want to discuss the subject. But my sweet mother-in-law gets it because she keeps saying “I want to go home!” She knows the joys that await her.
Here’s the positive way of looking at death. This earth has been our internship for heaven. Maybe you’ve been to a Disney theme park where you waited in a lonnnnng line for a ride. You got closer and closer and soon were put in a holding room until the ride’s present passengers exited, and the doors opened for you to board the ride. This earth is the “holding room” for the ride of our life. You and I, and everyone we love will eventually die so then death had better be our friend and not our enemy. All Saints Day and All Souls Day offer us a wonderful, consoling, and beautiful way of looking at death. I continue to let Jesus make sense of it all for me! How about you?