St James Catholic Church

It’s not every year that we celebrate the solemnity of All Saints on a Sunday.  This is a day on which we remember all those holy men and women who have come before us.  Sainthood is not an exclusive club.  In the Apostles Creed we profess our belief in the communion of saints, which is much larger than those formally canonized by the Catholic Church.  In John’s account in the Book of Revelation, he talks about an uncountable multitude.  Each and every one of us can aspire to this outcome.  It is not restricted to those who live unimaginable exceptional lives.  So we are called to be saints striving to be holy in our ordinary lives.

Our Gospel today presents a prescription for a saintly life.  With the beatitudes, Jesus taught his disciples how they would be blessed or happy.  We pray and strive with God’s grace to become poor in spirit, clean of heart, and hungry for righteousness, among the other prescriptions our Lord lays out for us as his disciples.  People of Israel were given the Ten Commandments to live as their covenant with God.  Jesus, the new Moses, gives us the Commandments of love based on the beatitudes, the blueprint of the Kingdom.

In November we also remember all those who have died.  On November 2, All Soul’s Day, when we commemorate all the faithful departed in a special way, we call to mind our memories of all those who have died: family, friends, acquaintances, people from our faith community of St. James Parish.  Why not join us Monday evening for the 7:00 PM Mass?  May the promise of the resurrection console us as we remember and grieve our beloved dead.  May their souls and the souls of all the faithfully departed rest in peace.

Love, Peace, Joy

Fr. Bob