On this last night of October(yes, I'm wondering where the heck did it go) I am reflective as I sit home alone contemplating a busy few days, weeks and even months ahead. As November plans to dawn in a few hours I am happy about many things but specifically the return of my bride from a long 12 day seperation as she got to play grandma(nona) and this incredible cool, fall like weather that actually visited us this past week! Yet October ends on this All Hallow's Eve and we arrive at November.
As a Catholic I, like many others, am looking forward to All Saints Day, All Souls Day and Thanksgiving and the not too distant start of Advent. As I say more than once throughout the course of a year: it is a great time to be a Catholic! All Saints, which we celebrate tomorrow, is indeed a holy day of obligation. It is that incredible day set aside on the Church calendar to remember those many Saints who have come before us, their witness to the faith and their example for us to be Saints too! All Souls, the next day, gives us the opportunity to remember the faithful departed, to especially recall with fondness our own family members who have gone on before us and to contemplate important Catholic teachings like praying for the dead and purgatory. That same day is also First Friday and for our faith community at MHT we will have Adoration and a short period of Benediction before we preapre for our Mass of Bereavement.
In November we will prepare for Thanksgiving and begin the long process we call the holiday season. Fortunately, for us Catholics, we have the graced season of Advent. More on that later in the month ahead!
November will bring plenty of excitement for me as I will have a short, though important, visit with grandson #1. Thanks to the generosity of a family friend I will indeed spend 2 days visiting Cal and seeing him up close and personal. Can't wait.
And before I forget, the end of November will bring to a close the 5 years of formal instruction and formation for our Deacon candidates, the class of 2012, who will be ordained on December 1st. I too look forward to this event as I have grown close to many in this class. It is always a joy to see the culmination(really it's a beginning) of the desire to answer a vocational answering of God's call.
And maybe along the way the leaves will continue to change and fall, the air will continue to get a little cooler, the time indeed will change and maybe, just maybe, LSU will beat Alabama and the Saints, as in NFL Saints, will win a few games!
C'mon November; looking forward to meeting you!
(And yes, I purposefully did not mention the election)
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