This feast is also an opportunity to remember that all of us are called to holiness, by different paths maybe but attainable nonetheless. Holiness is not a pathway reserved for an elite: it is open to all those who choose to follow in the footsteps of Christ (Read the exhortation of Pope Francis “Gaudete and Exsultate”, Word and Silence Edition, available at the sanctuary bookshop). Pope John Paul II made it clear to us by beatifying and canonising many people, among them individuals as diverse as Father Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Padre Pio and Mother Teresa … More recently, on 14th October this year Pope Francis canonised Paul VI and Mons. Romero. These men and women are all witnesses to the love of God and we can relate to them through their individual journeys to sainthood – they did not become holy overnight but through their doubts, their questions … in a word: through their humanity.
2nd November is dedicated to the commemoration of the dead. That day, in the Sanctuary of Lourdes, “in this place where the light has been given to a poor child, in the black hollow of the rock, we want to unite in friendship and in prayer,” Father André Cabes, the Rector, invites us to a Mass at 11.15 am, in the Immaculate Conception Basilica.
To celebrate the feast of All Saints, why not have a candle lit or have a mass said in memory of your deceased loved ones?
1 av. Monseigneur Théas
