Happy All Saints Day!
November 1 has always been my very favorite day of the entire year for a variety of reasons, with the honoring of all the Saints known and unknown playing an increasingly important part in that favor as I’ve matured spiritually over the years.
I may or may not be able to slip off to Mass later. (As good Catholics – and even I – know, All Saints is a Day of Obligation, but since it falls on a Saturday this year, that obligation in effect rolls over to tomorrow.) Regardless of whether I do or not, my thoughts today are filled with the Litany of the Saints.
I have found that recognition of and appeal to the Saints (up to and including the Virgin) has been the hardest part of coming to Holy Mother Church. It isn’t that I have a problem accepting the theology, because I don’t. Instead, it is just a matter of not being used to it, having grown up a Low Church Episcopalian, and I find that I have to make a particular conscious effort to do so. I expect that as with most things, this will get easier and more natural with time and usage.
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November 2, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Christine
Yes, it does. As a convert myself, in the beginning it was difficult to actually remember I have a guardian angel that accompanies me everywhere I go and sees and knows everything I do. I would often feel terrible for neglecting and ignoring him. Over the years, though, I’ve become more and more accustomed to calling his presence to mind and asking him for help. It does take conscious effort, but as with everything else, it does get easier the more one does it.
November 3, 2008 at 2:58 am
Jordana
You think remembering the saints is hard for an Episcopalian convert — just imagine coming in from a low church Protestant background that doesn’t call anyone saints, except in the “All Christians are saints” way. It’s very hard to get used to, but my children seem to already have none of the hang ups their mother does. So keep talking to the girls about it all and when they some day decide to follow the old man into Catholicism, it won’t be so strange to them.
November 3, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Robbo
I may be farther along than I suspected: I understand that in her Sunday School class yesterday at RFEC, when asked what day it was, the six year old said, “It’s All Souls Day! And yesterday was All Saints Day!” My witness reports that the teachers (no, not the one she made cry – she quit), expecting the answer “All Saints Sunday”, were temporarily at a loss for words. When they suggested that was the correct answer, I’m told the gel stuck to her guns.
Also, the ten year old asked me recently why I keep muttering, “St. Cecilia, ora pro nobis!” when I help her with her violin practice.
November 3, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Christine
There’s an idea when I’m helping my daughter learn her scales on the piano!