A Sunday Thought For The Church Mlitant - Us

All Saints and All Souls, just passed this week: the Feast of All Saints on November 1st; the commemoration of All Souls on November 2nd.

At one time the typical Catholic church would host full congregations of folks at multiple masses on All Saints. Our Catholic grammar school naturally made All Saints a holiday from the usual grind, but we were expected to be at 9 o'clock Mass, and in our class assigned places. Our nuns sat behind each grade and class to assure proper comportment. 

On All Soul's, priests could - and did - say three Masses each, by special dispensation. Since most Catholic churches had "side altars" (either flanking the main altar, or literally on the sides of the church), you might attend the Holy Sacrifice to pray the souls in Purgatory with more than one Mass going on. Oh, and the priests typically wore black vestments, which added to the somber reverence of the day. It was an experience I'll never forget. With hope, perhaps we can look forward to a saner time when these liturgical practices might return in some form.

But that was then. This is now.

Whatever your experience at Mass on these holy days, do attend Mass if possible. Celebrate the "Church Triumphant" - as we used to call the saints in Heaven. And offer prayers and sacrifices for the "Church Suffering, " holy souls in Purgatory. They so need our help as their souls are cleansed sufficiently to allow them to enter into the Divine Presence.

Both share one thing in common: Each have finished their struggle for sanctity during their time in this Vale of Tears.

What about us? We're the Church Militant, ideally working our way to Heaven best we can? Our struggle continues. And each new day brings its challenges that must be met as we strive to become saints. We will ideally accomplish this during our days on earth or, if we fall short, during time we must spend in Purgatory.

With all that in mind, we offer some thoughts from one of our "regulars," Fr. Joseph Schryvers, C.SS.R. (1876-1945) to help us in our daily struggle.

“It is a surprising thing that miserable man here below can produce a single act of charity even when aided by grace. His senses from his earliest years are inclined towards exterior and palpable things. His reason knows of the existence of God only by deduction. Of the supernatural world he is utterly ignorant, except what he learns by hearsay. And this lowly being, so ignorant and so evilly inclined, still wants to obtain by a constant effort supernatural beauty and unalloyed happiness. With this end in view, he strains all the powers of his soul and body to reach this ideal, and at each inspiration, each call of invisible grace, he would rise higher still. This feeble creature of flesh and blood proposes to renounce, continually, his animal aspirations, to reform himself, to go against himself, to rectify his judgment and purify his heart, not once, or in a passing way, but always, under the influence of a mysterious agency, which he does not see, but in which he believes and whose help he implores. What a beautiful sight for the angels to see such a man, exposed to every kind of temptation, to all the attacks of the world and of the devil, and to all the delusions within him, return calmly and bravely to God, in spite of all his difficulties and weakness!
“Such a heroic life can be lived only at the cost of incessant struggle. Sanctity does not free the soul from this combat; on the contrary, it supposes it, and it exacts it. Perfection in this world does not mean rest and enjoyment. It is not a permanent static state; it is a march towards God, a continuous effort, an incessant tendency towards the supernatural ideal. All holiness here below is relative; it can and ought to grow without interruption. The more a soul unites herself to God and plunges herself into the depths of His infinity, the more her horizon widens and space stretches before her, for she confronts the infinite. Banish from your mind the false idea that you can find rest in this world. You are not here below to enjoy God, but to love Him by working, suffering, and struggling. Enjoyment is the reward of perseverance.”

Happy Sunday!