Ending well...

 But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom

and will possess it forever - yes, for ever and ever.  ~ Daniel 7:18 

Solemnity of All Saints*
November 1
We are called to remember all of the saints, known and unknown,

whose lives have served as holy examples for us.  

"To become saints means to fulfill completely what we already are, raised to the dignity of God's adopted children in Christ Jesus...” … “This, then, is the meaning of today’s Solemnity:  looking at the shining example of the Saints to reawaken within us the great longing to be like them:  happy to live near God, in His light, in the great family of God’s friends.  Being a Saint means living close to God, to live in His family…” Pope Benedict XVI

 

            "Saints of God, perfected in love and victorious over sin, who now enjoy the reward of adoring Our Lord face to face in everlasting JOY and GLORY: 

            Be gracious to remember us, flawed and failing, who still struggle on earth, who kneel here adoring Our Lord hidden in the tabernacle, who long for the day when we too will be made like Him and will see Him as He is.

              Gather around us here in His Eucharistic Presence to strengthen us with your prayers and to enrich our feeble worship with the mighty chorus of your praise.  Teach us by your example to love Him above all things, so that we too may become the pure in heart to see God, who enjoy with you the eternal blessed fellowship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen." 

From Jesus, We Adore You,

Prayers Before the Blessed Sacrament 

Paul Thigpen

Image above: Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven, Fra Angelico - 1428-30

"Make up your mind to become a saint." ~ St. Maria Mazarello 

"Never say, 'What great things the saints do,' but,

'What great things God does in His saints.'"~ St. Philip Neri

"The saints did not all begin well,
but they all ended well."~ St John Vianney

"The saints were as weak as we are; grace sustained them.  Why should 
we doubt that we, too, will be sustained by grace?" - Bl Clelia Merloni

 

 “O blessed souls, who knew so well how to profit by the gifts of God,

and to purchase with this precious ransom so delectable and enduring

a heritage, tell us how you won through Him such an eternal blessing!

Assist us, since you are so near the Fountainhead.

Draw water for those of us on earth who are perishing with thirst."

St Teresa of Jesus - Exclamations of the Soul to God,13

*Origin of All Saint's Day as a feast of the Church
Click here:  http://www.wf-f.org/AllSaints.html  

During the Octave of All Saints' Day (Nov 1 thru Nov 8) any of the faithful,

by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the departed,

can obtain a plenary indulgence (each day this is done),

applicable to the poor souls in purgatory,

(under the usual conditions for obtaining indulgences).

O blessed Mass! ...

"O blessed Mass! Expand yet more and more your heart, and

ask great things of Him... " - St Leonard of Port Maurice

 

 

"Take my advice, and in every Mass ask God

to make you a great saint. 

Does this seem too much?  It is not too much. 

 

Is it not our good Master Who protests in the holy Gospel that,

for a cup of cold water given out of love of Him,

He will, in return, give paradise?

How, then , while offering to God the blood of His most blessed Son,

should He not give you a hundred heavens, were there so many?

 

How can you doubt but that He wishes to give you

all the virtues and all the perfections

which are required to make you a saint, and a great saint, in heaven?

 

 

St Leonard of Port Maurice

Live as you believe...

"One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it.

But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a

fate more terrible than dying." - St Joan of Arc

"Ask Jesus to make you a saint.

After all, only He can do that.

Go to confession regularly

and to Communion as often as you can."

St. Dominic Savio

“There is no shame so great that God’s mercy cannot

shine forth from its midst. ... Jesus is not afraid

to go to the core of our shame to heal us.  

Sins and secrets do not scare Him.  

The serpent causes shame and hiding; 

Jesus invites us to mercy and communion.” ~ Fr Richard Veras

"When you go to Confession, know this, that I Myself am waiting

for you in the confessional; I am only hidden by the priest,

but I Myself act in the soul.  Here the misery of the soul meets the

God of Mercy.  Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls

draw graces solely with the vessel of trust.  If their trust is great

there is no limit to My generosity.”  - Our Lord to St Faustina

Holy Viaticum

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters of
the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith 
will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; 
and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. -  James 5:14-15

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC):

1524  In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of "passing over" to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father.

1525 Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called "the sacraments of Christian initiation," so too it can be said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum constitute at the end of Christian life "the sacraments that prepare for our heavenly homeland" or the sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage.

Continue reading about this beautiful Sacrament and gift of the Church

See Catechism of the Catholic Church - Sections 1499-1532 http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2art5.shtml
Please call a priest for this holy time of preparation and passage.

Viaticum angels - wood engraving, France - 1891

"The world's thy ship and not thy home." - St Thérèse of Lisieux

Ask!

"’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies

us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours

out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children."

-St. Clement of Alexandria

 

The Coronation of Mary and the Glory of all the Saints - Elizabeth Wang (2003)

"Take my advice, and in every Mass ask God to make you a great saint.  Does this seem too much?  It is not too much.  Is it not our good Master who declares in the holy gospel that for a cup of cold water given out of love for him, he will, in return give paradise?  How then while offering to God the blood of his most blessed Son, should he not give you a hundred heavens, were there so many?

 

St Leonard

It's a choice: your choice!

 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God... - John 1:12

"Our Divine Savior is ready to bestow innumerable graces through this Sacrament, which are lost in consequence of the ignorance and indifference of men. 

When the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar is not revered and loved, scandals will abound, faith will languish and the Church will mourn.  On the other hand, if this sacrament be worthily frequented, peace will reign in Christian hearts, the devil will lose power, and souls will be sanctified."

 

Fr Michael Muller, C.S.S.R.

The Blessed Sacrament, Our Greatest Treasure (1867)