When it came time for me to decide on a topic to research and write on for my Master’s Thesis in the seminary, I chose to write in the area of ecclesiology, which is the study of the Church.  When I told my classmates about it, they did not sound terribly impressed, as they thought it sounded like a rather dry topic.  But I persevered and as I did my work, I grew very much in my knowledge of the Church.  More importantly, though, I grew in my love for the Church!

As we enter into the month of November, I like to think of this month as a month during which our attention is especially focused on the Church.  Let me explain why I say that.  On November 1, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints.  This day draws our attention to what we call the Church Triumphant.  The saints who are in Heaven still very much belong to the Church.  Their membership in the Church highlights the important point that even though they no longer enjoy physical communion with us here on earth, they are still united to us though the bond of faith that was given to them (and us) on the day of Baptism.  We call those in Heaven part of the Church Triumphant because they are sharing in the triumphal victory that Christ has won for them through His Death and Resurrection, a victory that is extended in a final and lasting way to all of those who complete their earthly journey united to Him through grace as members of the Church.

On the following day, November 2, we celebrate the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, also known as All Souls Day.  On this day in a special way, and throughout the entire month of November in a general way, we pray for those members of the Church who have died and are awaiting their being welcomed into the Church Triumphant.  We call those who have died and are in this state of waiting members of the Church Suffering.  They are undergoing any purification that is necessary for them to be fully prepared for Heaven.  Once again, death does not separate these souls from membership in the Church.  As their brothers and sisters in the faith, we offer our prayers and sacrifices on their behalf so that the purgation of the effects of their sins will be accomplished, thus the name Purgatory that is given to those who are in this state.  The members of the Church Suffering have a painful ache for Heaven which is guaranteed to them, but which is not yet something they can fully embrace.  Therefore, we aid them so as to relieve that suffering, and we look forward to benefitting from their prayers when they do arrive at their reward.

Finally, for us who remain in the Church here below, we continue to struggle against our weaknesses and the obstacles the devil and the world place before us.  It is for that reason that this state in the Church in which we find ourselves is known as the Church Militant.  This battle is waged with the graces the Church offers to us in the sacraments and by following the teachings of Christ and His Church.  Our victory is assured if we continue to follow under the banner of our triumphant King, Jesus Christ, who has already won the victory and who never ceases to offer us the help we need to be among the victors at the end of our lives.  It is therefore fitting for us to celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King toward the end of November on the last Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Let us be ever mindful of the beauty of this Church to which we belong by calling upon the intercession of those who are in Heaven to help us with their prayers, by praying for those in Purgatory who need our help to get to Heaven, and by praying for and helping one another who remain here below to journey together along this journey as we look forward to all of us being one day among the members of the Church Triumphant in Heaven. 

Father Alford     

My generation is probably familiar with a quote from Spiderman’s Uncle Ben in the 2002 movie: “With great power comes great responsibility.” I’m sure someone else had said this line many years before Uncle Ben, but it is actually a good expression of our duty as human beings to choose good and avoid evil. Last week I wrote about the Church’s understanding of free choice, and I would like to expand on that today. 

Free will implies a great responsibility that we have been given to choose the good. It is possible to gradually lose one’s freedom over time, if bad decisions are made over and over again. From the very beginning of Genesis, we see that a misuse of free will led to a lessening of the freedom of Adam and Eve, as they were banished from the Garden of Eden, having made their decision to reject God and choose sin. Paragraph 1739 of the Catechism says, “Man’s freedom is limited and fallible. In fact, man failed. He freely sinned. By refusing God’s plan of love, he deceived himself and became a slave to sin. This first alienation engendered a multitude of others. From its outset, human history attests the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom.” 

Sin begets sin, as holiness begets holiness. After the Original Sin, Adam and Eve turned to blame, then not telling the whole truth to God about what had happened. Sin reduces our freedom, and a habitual sin is called a vice. Good actions increase our freedom, and good habits are called virtues. St. Paul often talks about this freedom in his letters. He wrote to the Galatians, “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Gal 5:1). By submitting to God’s will and accepting his grace, we become free to live lives of virtue and goodness. For someone who follows the false idea of freedom, or doing whatever one wants, freedom can actually be lost. “By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth” (CCC 1740). 

Jesus has saved us so that we can have the glorious freedom of the children of God. God adopted us as his sons and daughters when we were baptized, and he invites us to call him “Father.” God does not want us to see him simply as a master or a rule-maker, and he doesn’t want us to follow his rules simply because we are afraid of making him angry. He invites us to the fullness of life through prayer and the sacraments because he loves us and wants what is best for us. May we all confidently turn to God as our heavenly Father in true freedom. Sin is only an illusion of freedom, and it is our responsibility to seek that which is truly good. 

Feast Day: November 4^th   

Much could be said about the saintly archbishop of Milan whose life we look to as an example of holiness and faithfulness this week.  He was made shepherd of that important archdiocese shortly after the Council of Trent and worked his entire life to place its teachings, and directives, into the hearts of his flock.  He worked to reform the clergy in his diocese, who were considered so corrupt that a common saying was “if you want to go to hell, become a priest”.  And, if those sobering words do not convince us of the challenges that faced him, in 1576 a famine struck the city, and then the Bubonic Plague.  

The wealthy and those in power fled the city as it was ravaged by the terrible disease, but the archbishop stayed.  As food supplies dwindled, and the numbers of caretakers plummeted, the still-young Archbp. Borromeo spent his own fortune (and then went deep into debt) to procure food, and distribute it himself to the overflowing hospitals and leper houses.  He was surrounded by the sick and dying, and with little help from his own fearful priests, who had abandoned the sick without natural or supernatural sustenance, Charles himself fed some 70,000 people during the coming months, and gave countless suffering persons absolution, anointing, and viaticum.  Famously, he offered Mass on street corners so that the faithful could receive the sacraments with less risk of catching the dreaded plague.

This month, we have considered the saints as exemplars of those who have walked the path to heaven before us.  As we consider how we are doing on that journey ourselves, and how strongly our own lives are directed towards eternity, there is a final lesson to be learned from Charles’ ministry during those terrible 16 months in Milan.  Seeing that there were far too few priests to bring the sacraments to the dying (some 25,000 would die in his archdiocese during those days), the archbishop drafted a “Last Will and Testament of the Soul”, which were distributed widely so that anyone could sign it for themselves, committing their souls into God’s hands if their death came with no chance to receive absolution or Holy Communion.  A few excerpts are sufficient to ask each of us if we are as courageous as they in choosing heaven in the midst of our own sufferings!

[I desire to] pass out of this life, armed with the last sacrament of extreme unction: the which if through any let or hindrance I should not then be able to have, I do now also for that time demand and crave the same; beseeching his divine majesty that he [God] will be pleased to anoint my senses both internal and external with the sacred oil of his infinite mercy, and to pardon me all my sins committed by seeing, speaking, feeling, smelling, hearing, touching, or by any other way whatsoever.  [I repent from my sins of] murmuration against God, or the Catholic faith … any sign of bad example … [and] all the evil whatsoever, which I might have then done or said.  

[I give] infinite thanks [to God, for all His gifts, especially my] Vocation to the holy knowledge of him and his true Catholic faith.  [And] I am willing, yea, I do infinitely desire and humbly crave, that of this my last will and testament the glorious and ever Virgin Mary, mother of god, refuge and advocate of sinners, (whom I honour specially above all other saints,) may be the chief Executress, together with these other saints, my patrons, all whom I invoke and beseech to be present at the hour of my death, that she and they may comfort me with their desired presence, and crave of sweet Jesus that he will receive my soul into peace.

Amen!!  May all of us have the courage to pray this prayer!  

– Fr. Rankin will spend this week taking to heart Charles Borromeo’s words, at this same time, to the priests of his diocese: “We have only one life and we should spend it for Jesus Christ and souls, not as we wish, but at the time and in the way God wishes. It would show great presumption and neglect of our duty and God’s service to fail to do this, with the excuse that God could not replace us by others more capable of working for His glory. This does not mean you should neglect human means, such as preventatives, remedies, doctors, everything that you can use to keep off infection, for such means are in no way opposed to our doing our duty.  … [but] Do not be so forgetful of your priesthood as to prefer a late death to a holy one.”