This week was quite busy with studying for a Modern Philosophy midterm examination and reading up on John Rawls' Political Liberalism for Contemporary Philosophy. Greek demands more and more time as we go along, to keep all of the grammar and vocabulary fresh, but it is an exciting course and a fun, deeper look into more authentic textual interpretations of Sacred Scripture (and I've always loved studying languages!). We got our grades back on our Logic exams, and were proud to hear that Dr. Lang was impressed with them! Since we know our Logic well, we now proceed to Epistemology, the study of the certitude (truth) of human knowledge and how it is that we know.
It's also been quite cold this week - things really cooled off on Wednesday into Thursday, at which point, with all of us freezing everywhere but the kitchen, we decided it was time to fire up the boiler and warm the house up a bit. It's still frugally cool throughout the house, but at least it's liveable. Boston saw its first snow Friday night and a little more last night, as you can see in the photos, but things should warm up a bit before we really hit winter. It doesn't typically snow until late December, but may snow as late as April or even May.
The next three days will be interesting. Tomorrow night, we begin the vigil of the Solemnity of All Saints (All Hallows' Eve, or Halloween), at which point we postulants will begin a day of recollection at our St. Joseph's Retreat House in Milton. All Saints is a feast to acknowledge and rejoice in the lives and gifts of those who have gone before us and done the Will of the Father. These men and women whose lives of faith were heroic in various ways, some through their radical conversions, some for the testimony of the sacrifice of their lives, and others through their quiet fidelity to Christ's invitation to a life of love. We can find great encouragement in knowing that they were able, insofar as their humanity was capable of embracing God's grace allowing Him to work through the willingness of their lives, to do what the Lord asked of them, and that, as we find ourselves in similar circumstances, we may do the same. We can also beg their intercession for us in our many and varied trials, that they intercede for us with the Father in obtaining graces for us, for our many needs.
Then Wednesday, we will commemorate All Souls' day, a time to remember those who have died, especially those who have died over the past year, and to offer prayers of intercession on their behalf that God might bring them into the glory of His eternal kingdom. We find evidence of this both in the New Testament letter to the Hebrews and in the second book of Maccabees - those who believed offered prayers and sacrifices on behalf of those who had died, in order that they might be granted eternal salvation. We often hear the phrase "the poor souls in purgatory," which has some truth, as many common phrases do: the souls in purgatory, while they do not suffer eternal fire, nevertheless endure a pain for their purification, a pain brought about by their sins, and their poverty consists in their helplessness on their own - they need us to pray for them, to offer sacrifices for them, and to allow them to help us on our faith journey. We also hear the souls in purgatory referred to as "holy" and "blessed" and this, too, is true, for while they had sufficient faith and good works in their lives to merit salvation from eternal punishment, their shortcomings in "making up" or atoning for the sins that they did commit require the satisfaction of purgatory as a final cleansing of their souls before their entry into the fullness of the beatific vision in heaven.
So let us ask the intercession of all the saints, those canonized and those as yet unknown by name to the Church on earth, and that of the poor holy souls in purgatory, that we may persevere in faith in our lives, bearing the fruit of good works, that our lives may be pleasing to our Maker and we may join Him and the angels and saints in the light of eternal glory!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
No comments:
Post a Comment