All Saints Day

It's The feast of All Saints today and I have been with the saints all day. First to Mass, then saying the litany of the Saints whenever I can. It's amazing to spend the day with the saints. All so holy yet all so different.

I told my grandchildren about their name saints and they were very interested.

Being Holy 3

I love the lines in Romans 12 when St Paul write about offering our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, holy and and pleasing to Him, and a true act of worship.

AMEN and AMEN.

Is trying to do that being holy?

I have many questions but few answers. This may be another piece in the puzzle.

But I am trying to to DO and PRAY rather than merely ponder.

Icon Corner

We have an icon corner in our dining room. It's just a small corner with a small table on top of which is candle of the colour of the day and a rosary. On the one of the walls we have large 'real' icons of Our Lord and one of the Blessed Mother. On the other wall we've hung smaller icons my husband made for me of St Michael,because my husband was called Mike when he was young and our son is Michael; one of St Anne, whom I ask to pray for my grandchildren as she was the grandmother of Jesus; St Joseph for all the Fathers in our family and Blessed Melchizedek to help us pray for priests.

I often say my morning prayers sitting on a chair in front of our lovely corner but occasionally, during the day, I say a brief prayer standing very close 'inside' the icon corner and I almost feel as if I'm in a tiny beautiful chapel. It's a very blessed and lovely feeling.

Praise you Lord my God.

Being Holy 2

I say this prayer every day, in fact quite often during the day:

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.

Is that a help towards being Holy? If we sincerely pray to become like Jesus, surely over time we will become holy like him? But we'll never know of course. We'll never wake up and think one morning "Hey! I've made it! I'm now Holy!" We just have to pray, and try, and trust. And I guess take our eyes off ourselves and fix them on Him.

Such a long way to go...but he's with us.

Being Holy

At Mass this morning Father Marcus said in his sermon that we are all called to be holy. It's quite a scary thought really. Sometimes, when we think about being holy, we imagine someone very pious and other worldly; someone who is too busy praying to have a laugh. Or someone so very, very good that the humble sinner's mind reels at the thought of how far we are away from it, and how far we have to go. So we give up, shrug our shoulders and decide we'll still go to Mass on Sundays and say the odd prayer but we still want to enjoy this world and we have our life to lead. Perhaps we even think that God will have to make do with that!

I haven't really sorted out what being holy means, and I'm going to think and pray about it. I begin by feeling sure that it has something to do with love.

Latin Mass

I love my Latin Mass so much. The Mass is the Mass no matter what language it in, but what I specially like about the Latin Mass is that it all about God and Jesus. I sometimes think we forget what the true focus of Mass should be with the busy busyness of the New Mass. Who are the readers and will they read well, what about the kind of hymns the choir have chosen? Will they be uplifting or ultra modern and banal? What about the eucharistic ministers? All women AGAIN! I hope the priest won't feel he has to make a weak joke again. What a racket people are making before Mass, it's like being at the zoo! All bad thoughts and I repent of them...again...and again.

At the Latin Mass (low Mass) there is silence when you walk in. People are kneeling and praying, silently. There is an atmosphere of peace and expectation. The priest and altar server come in. There is no "Good morning everyone. See the All Blacks did well again. So we can thank God for that." No, we have serious, holy, cosmic business to attend to. The priest turns the same way as we do and together we face God.

For a whole blessed hour our thoughts are on God and on the stupendous miracle happening on our altar. In silence, apart from the ringing of bells and the quiet voices of priest and acolyte our thoughts are as one. We are a community, a people of God, adoring.

Then it's all over, we go outside, laughing and sharing our news,

Thank you dear Jesus.