The question, then, is not how much you have been given (even an ounce of heaven is enough), but what you do with it.

For the remainder of the month and into the new liturgical year, let’s offer renewed friendship to those who have gone before us. Pray for them (the Saint Gertrude prayer for holy souls is particularly efficacious - if you don’t know it, it’s a good one to look up).

It’s a daunting list, but we can progress little by little and support each other on the way of humility, and so become better conduits of God’s love — our exalted reward

This coming Wednesday is your day! November 1st is the Solemnity of All Saints, and it’s worth remembering what it means to be a saint so we can live out the call even more fully.

What belongs to God? In a word, everything.

It’s important to note that the King does not impose this divine dress code for his own sake: he is beauty itself, and nothing we do can taint his resplendence or diminish his joy. We ready ourselves for our own sakes, that our participation in the feast may be full, fruitful, and everlasting.

By replacing [anxiety] with thoughts of truth, honor, justice, purity, loveliness, and graciousness, we begin to secure the perimeter of our hearts and minds with the peace of God himself.

We as a parish community can cultivate a culture of connection. One key to connectedness is good communication,

If we lived by our ways, we’d alienate those who wrong us. We’d delay tithing until our bank accounts were impenetrable. We’d prefer vindication to unity. But the landowner teaches us differently. We’re called to be radical with our love today.

Because the decision to forgive defies our instincts of self-defense and preservation, it takes a lot of practice. Like any act of moral courage and conviction, we’re far more likely to choose forgiveness if we’ve already made it a habit of heart and mind, and that requires good training.

At best, technical compliance is insufficient; at worst, it’s a thin veneer for ruination. Our far more challenging task is to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

In short, the school exists to help form students into human beings who flourish into their full potential in mind, body, heart, and soul. That responsibility takes on countless shapes and sizes, from Euclidean geometry to gym class, from our House system to the artwork hanging in our hallways.

I take heart in knowing that we are together in prayer, gathered under the mantle of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. We pray especially that Our Lady, whose good counsel we implore, will lead us and keep us ever hopeful in the days ahead.

We should demonstrate similar perseverance in our own prayer lives. We too have much on the line every single day; like this woman, we should never, never, never give up begging Jesus to order our hearts and lives to himself.

As a result of your generous hospitality, we’ve never been more vibrant, and one manifestation of our growth is the need to build a new home for our Montessori preschool.

And in the midst of that extraordinary revelation that had understandably scared Jesus’ closest friends out of their wits, they were given only two directives: “listen to him” and “be not afraid.”

The “Grow” section of our parish website details a number of practical ways we can nurture this sacred friendship, and I invite you to check it out.

No matter how you participated in last Sunday’s festivities, you bore God’s image to those you met. I can’t think of a more fitting way to honor Our Lady than that.

We have been knitted together by God’s love, and it is for us to walk together in solidarity as he moves and works among and through us for the good of his whole world. This is our chance to manifest our commitment to him and express our willingness to let his peace, generosity, and love flow through us to everyone we meet.

As we take part in our own parish revelry, we take time to remember that Mary is with us every step of the way as we journey towards her beloved son. Our devotion to her inflames our love for Jesus, that our lives might similarly manifest the power and benevolence of God to everyone we encounter.