Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom….

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In our Lord’s parable from today’s Gospel reading, we find that the ten bridesmaids are having to wait. They’re out to meet up with the bridegroom to join in the big wedding celebration, but the bridegroom is delayed. And all of them -- both the wise and the foolish -- become drowsy and fall asleep. Normal behavior for people who have to wait for something into the night hours, because it’s not until midnight that the bridegroom finally arrives.

Almighty God, we remember this day before thee all the faithful departed, and we pray thee that, having opened to them the gates of larger life, thou wilt receive them more and more into thy joyful service; that they may win, with thee and thy servants everywhere, the eternal victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Yesterday was All Saints’ Day, when we commemorated all of the saints across the history of the Church. We celebrated their radical devotion to our Lord and the extent to which their lives revealed a deep conformity to the pattern of Christ. But all Christians are members of the Body of Christ -- all have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus and united to him by faith -- whether they lived uniquely saintly lives or just ordinary lives of ordinary faith. And all Christians will one day perish and depart this world. There are countless numbers of them who have died already. And so, it was in the wisdom of the Church that the day following All Saints’ Day was designated for the commemoration of all the faithful departed: All Souls’ Day.

Almighty God... Give us grace so to follow thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee….

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today is the Feast of All Saints, the day on which we commemorate all of the heroes of the faith; those capital-S “Saints,” whether known and unknown, whose lives reveal a remarkable conformity to the pattern of Christ. It is a day for celebrating the manner in which the salvation of our Lord actually works in real people’s lives -- people just like us. But perhaps not so much like us, the saints are those who displayed such an intense and radical devotion to Christ that many of them stand out in the history of the Church. Through the lives of the saints, we see Christ more clearly -- which is to say that the saints are defined by a kind of transparency. What’s remarkable about them is not so much something that is unique to them on their own -- their personality or talents or skills -- but rather the extent to which they don’t obstruct the view of the Christ. They don’t put themselves in the way so as to distract others and themselves from Jesus. Like St. John the Baptist, the saints decrease so that Christ can increase. When we venerate the saints, therefore, we’re not worshipping them apart from Christ or even in addition to Christ; instead, we are worshipping Christ as he is revealed through their holy manner of life. The saints are a distinctive extension of the Incarnation: because the Word became flesh -- because the Son of God became fully human -- it is now possible for his divine holiness to be manifested in the human lives of those who are united to him. And wherever God is manifested, it is only natural that we would respond with reverence, devotion, and imitation.

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity….

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus answers the Pharisees’ question about which commandment of the Law is the greatest and he repeats something that we hear each and every Sunday at the beginning of the mass:

• You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Then there’s our Collect this morning, in which we ask that God would “increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity.” How are these things connected? What is the relationship between the so-called “theological virtues” of faith, hope, and charity and the two great commandments that sum up the Law and the prophets?

​“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What a timely Gospel reading for the moment we find ourselves in, just a few weeks away from an election! Right here, in this brief exchange between Jesus, the Pharisees, and the Herodians, we find a central question that should confront every Christian sooner or later. What does religion have to do with politics? How does our devotion to God relate to our responsibilities as citizens? And even if that question hasn’t occurred to you before, it probably will make itself known in the coming weeks.