Pastor's Letter: Feast of All Saints

Dear Parishioners,

November is upon us and we have two beautiful celebrations that make us think about death and the afterlife: Nov. 1, the Feast of All Saints, and Nov. 2, All Souls Day. All Saints is about Heaven and All Souls is about Purgatory.

We are all called to be Saints. Canonized or not, everyone in heaven is a saint. All Saints is about honoring all the saints in heaven and building our belief and desire for heaven. We all have a bit of window to heaven in our souls and this needs to expand. Heaven is the grace or life of God living within us. Our desire for heaven to be with God and all the saints should grow with each passing day and year. Heaven is our true home, we are only passing through this life on earth to eternal life.

On Nov. 2, we celebrate All Souls Day. We know that it is a good and charitable thing to pray for the souls of the dead in purgatory who need our prayers to come into the full glory of paradise. Purgatory is the place of purification before we can enter heaven. Our prayers for the souls in purgatory help those souls reach their eternal home in heaven. It is good to offer rosaries and masses for the souls in purgatory. As Our Lord reminds us, only the just and pure of heart will see the face of God. And we have to become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Purgatory is that process of restoring the innocence of a child.

This Tuesday, Nov. 1, All Saints Day, is a Holy Day of Obligation. I attempted to get a priest to come out here to celebrate a mass for this Feast Day but was unsuccessful. Therefore, we will have to use our neighboring parishes for this Holy Day. Please refer to the mass schedule on Page 3 for mass times for the Feast of All Saints at Deer Park and Colville.