Well folks, we have arrived at the month of November. Already. I know it’s hard to believe, but here we are. November 1, 2020, the feast of All Saints; this means, of course, over the last several years I have come to see this month as special gift, as a very real opportunity for reflection, for meditation, for growing in our relationship with the Lord. So much about November lends itself to a receptive way of being. The coming of the month of November signifies for me that it is time to turn the page, a time for me to enter into what I call my November State of Mind. In November, we celebrate the great saints who have gone before us to urge us on the victory. We pray for our beloved souls who have gone before us that they might soon fully realize eternal unity with the Lord. We experience the change in the time, the change in the weather, the increase of dark over light, the barrenness of nature. In the coming weeks in our liturgies we will be called to reflect on our need for sacred space with next week’s celebration of the Feast of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. The following week we will hear once again the Parable of the Talents with its exhortation to share the gifts God has given us. The following week brings us to the end of our Liturgical year with the recognition that Christ is the King of the universe. Then with the last week of the month we celebrate the national holiday of Thanksgiving which calls us to realize all the gifts God has given us and to express our gratefulness to Him. But that is not the end; it is only the beginning because November leads us into the Church’s New Year with the Season of Advent, which beckons us to prepare for the birth of Jesus, and so begin the cycle of life and holy living once again. That’s what I mean by the November State of mind. And central to the very essence of the month is this commemoration of the Saints and Holy Souls which we celebrate today and tomorrow. These celebrations make this month and this time of year so very very personal and real to each of us. It is largely because of the saints and our beloved who have gone before us we all have a stake in salvation history. As we move into November, I begin to very much think of my own father, who passed away on December 2, 1999 and was buried on December 6. I see this time of year as moving toward a very graced period which I like to call my “Dad’s time.” I find myself being for whatever reason more aware of His presence during this time of year and simply expecting miracles to be accomplished though his intercession. I do think that this is what November is all about. It’s about the Lord reminding us that our loved ones who have passed are still very much with us, both depending on our prayers and praying for us in real tangible ways. But I think it’s even about more than that. I think that this month of All Souls is very practically the advent of Advent. It is a time for us to get ready to prepare; to prepare as it were, for the birth of the Lord, along with all of our loved ones with whom we are walking the earth; and with those who have gone before us. And so we begin. Again.
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