November 2.  All Saints  Sunday. Fr Pius began, “We may say so in the Creed but who really, honestly, believes in the communion of saints, or understands what it really means? Who believes that with Christ at our head it refers to all of creation, us, humans here on earth, those who are still being purified from their sins in purgatory and also those already with God in eternal happiness?   Isn’t that kind of special?  But, to be a saint one has to do certain things, ‘continue to love one another and join in praising the Most Holy Trinity.’  Those who died in the love of God, or for God as martyrs are especially honoured. Martyrdom is happening in many parts of the world today.  I invite you to discuss together at home who you know, or have heard of, who are martyrs of our time?

Reflect, share, act. Scripture:  These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’  Rev 7:14“My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is. 1 John 3:2. Pope Francis:  Our prayer also extends to the saints and blessed ones who made divine their mission in life. The better we live on this earth, the greater the happiness we will be able to share with our loved ones in heaven. AL 258.  We direct our gaze to the end of time, when the Son will deliver all things to the Father so that God may be everything to everyone.  The creatures of this world no longer appear to us under merely natural guise because the risen One is mysteriously holding them to himself.  The very flowers of the field and the birds are imbued with his radiant presence. LS 100. Jubilee. The most convincing testimony to this hope is provided by the martyrs. Steadfast in their faith in the risen Christ, they renounced life itself here below, rather than betray their Lord. Martyrs, as confessors of the life that knows no end, are present and numerous in every age, and perhaps even more so in our own day. We need to treasure their testimony, in order to confirm our hope and allow it to bear good fruit. SNC 20.  Act and Pray for compassionate concern for those suffering loss in their families.