Saints and Souls

the just find rest in Thy house, o Lord

November is the Month of the Holy Souls. The Church dedicates each month of the year to a particular aspect of faith: Sacred Heart, Immaculate Heart, Holy Innocents. And November is the month of the Holy Souls. Obviously, this year it matters in a special way.
It is hard to write here anymore; it is hard to call people. Always on my heart and mind is Sarah: her Self; her Family; we her friends, bereft of her eyes and her laugh; her great sense of style; her no-nonsense strong will* to choose the True and Good and Beautiful.
This Month of Holy Souls begins with All Saints' Day--the Church in her wisdom reminding us that it is not just the "famous" who deserve to be celebrated, but those who live their Little Way, in Little Lives, in such obscurity that much of the world does not know of their holiness. But it is there--that "vast multitude" around the throne of God, pure and holy and praising Him with their whole selves, fulfilled and whole and complete in His presence--and remembering us, there at Our Lord's Feet, remembering us and bringing us always before God as we toil and struggle and weep in this Valley of Tears.
I do believe that Yesterday, Feast of All Saints, was Sarah's feast day. The irony is, of course, that so many more people know of Sarah because of her death--because she lived her life preparing for death, and the legacy she leaves us, even as we miss her, is one of rejoicing for her. Truly, we mourn for ourselves and our own loss, not for the fate of Sarah.
Her legacy also: Life is too short, friends! It is too short to cling to resentment or play the martyr or keep people alienated or with-hold forgiveness. It is too damn short. Our call is to love with our whole selves, reserving nothing, "protecting" nothing, but just loving. Loving all those around us--ALL!--with the love of Christ, that love that is itself healing and protecting and forgiving. And things being what they are, it must be said: NOT as the modern world defines "love," as in "do whatever the hell (literally) you want as long as you want to and think it might make you happy." Christ's love is salvific and self-giving, not a license for "anything goes." It requires us to change, to turn towards Him, to leave behind the clinging to woundedness. Nonetheless, make no mistake, we will be judged NOT on how well others have loved us, but on how well we have loved others.
Do not forget the Holy Souls. Do not forget, either, all of those hidden saints who, despite their anonymity, are part of the Body of Christ, of the Church Triumphant, of the Cloud of Witnesses that bears our weeping hearts to the Father of Mercy.

*I don't mean "strong willed" in the warped modern sense of "willfull," but a truly strong will, able to choose right, choose God, without struggle or hesitation.