Posted on 10/30/2010 10:16:03 PM PDT by Salvation
On All the Saints Grant thy blessing, Lord. |
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An Apologetics Primer on Explaining the Communion of Saints to Protestants
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VESPERS (Evening Prayer)Nov.1 2003 Feast of ALL SAINTS
Ideas for Sanctifying Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day
Interestingly, in Mexico they flipped the same idea: The day for the dead is the day after All Saints’ Day.
The Mexican version of Catholicism is very interesting to behold. It reaches deep into the soul of the Mexicans, yet it never lost its pagan roots. I think that is why Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe came to (now beatified) Don Diego: to speak to her lost children on how they are to worship God.
It was quite a gift.
St. Juan Diego
I had the fortune to be in Mexico City at the Basilica the very week that San Juan Diego was beatified. I missed the Pope by 2 days or so.
But the city was ecstatic and there were posters everywhere. I felt I was part of an event hundreds of years in the making.
I was indeed blessed.
The Icon of All Saints
In Holy Orthodoxy we celebrate the Feast of All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost. This commemoration began as the Sunday (Synaxis) of All Martyrs; to them were added all the ranks of Saints who bore witness (the meaning of "Martyr" in Greek) to Christ in manifold ways, even if occasion did not require the shedding of their blood. Therefore, guided by the teaching of the Divine Scriptures and Apostolic Tradition, we honor all the Saints, the friends of God, for they are keepers of God's commandments, shining examples of virtue, and benefactors of mankind. Of course, we honor the known Saints especially on their own day of the year, as is evident in the Menologion. But since many Saints are unknown, and their number has increased with time, and will continue to increase until the end of time, the Church has appointed that once a year a common commemoration be made of all the Saints. This is the feast that we celebrate today. It is the harvest of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world; it is the "much fruit" brought forth by that "Grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died" (John 12:24); it is the glorification of the Saints as "the foundation of the Church, the perfection of the Gospel, they who fulfilled in deed the sayings of the Savior" (Sunday of All Saints, Doxastikon of Vespers). In this celebration, then, we reverently honor and call blessed all the Righteous, the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Shepherds, Teachers, and Holy Monastics, both men and women alike, known and unknown, who have been added to the choirs of the Saints and shall be added, from the time of Adam until the end of the world, who have been perfected in piety and have glorified God by their holy lives. All these, as well as the orders of the Angels, and especially our most holy Lady and Queen, the Ever-virgin Theotokos Mary, do we honor on this day, setting their life before us as an example of virtue, and entreating them to intercede in our behalf with God, Whose grace and boundless mercy be with us all. Amen.
I saw the beatification of San Juan Diego on television. It was amazing. All of those thousands of clergy singing “Apariciones de Guadalupe,” dozens of verses ;-), from memory.
I have a special place in my heart for Mexico, even with all its problems.
Thanks for the icon.
“Thanks for the icon.”
You are very welcome, dear lady!
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