All Saints' Day, celebrated on November 1st, and All Souls' Day on November 2nd, are special holidays with deep roots in Catholic tradition and the cultures of many countries. These two days are a special time for remembering the deceased, reflecting on life, and reminding us of the spiritual communion with those who have passed away.

All Saints' Day

All Saints' Day is a feast in honour of all known and unknown saints. It is a day when the Catholic Church venerates those who have already achieved eternal happiness in heaven. This feast was already celebrated in the 4th century but was officially established on November 1st by Pope Gregory III in the 8th century.

This day has a joyful aspect because it highlights the triumph of life over death and the saints as role models for the faithful. They remind us of the pursuit of holiness and living in accordance with the teachings of the Gospel. Churches hold solemn masses, and in many places, the faithful pay homage to the relics of saints.

All Souls' Day

All Souls' Day, also known as the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, is observed the day after All Saints' Day. It is a time for prayer for the souls of the deceased who, it is believed, are in purgatory, awaiting full union with God.

The tradition of All Souls' Day was initiated by the Benedictines and was spread in the 11th century by St. Odilo, the abbot of Cluny. The Church encourages prayer, offering Masses, and performing acts of charity for the deceased on this day.

Significance and Contemporary Observance

Today, these holidays are still very important, the tradition of visiting cemeteries, lighting candles, and decorating graves has become deeply ingrained in the culture. It is a period when families gather to collectively pay respects to their departed loved ones. In many countries, cemeteries during these days look impressive, illuminated by thousands of candles, symbolizing remembrance of the dead and the hope of eternal life.

The significance of these days in contemporary culture also relates to care for identity and heritage. They provide an opportunity for reflection on the value of life, as well as for renewing family and social relationships. They remind us of the transience and fragility of human life, encouraging us to cultivate bonds with the past and make use of the wisdom passed down by previous generations.

Although they are religious holidays, they are also observed by non-believers as a show of respect for family history and the memory of ancestors. All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day have become a time of universal reflection on the inevitability of death and its place in our lives, as well as a reminder of the need to care for relationships while alive.

In summary, these days are not only a part of religious tradition but, above all, an opportunity to pause in our daily lives, reflect, and express respect for those who have left us. Like any rite of passage, they play an important role in the processes of acceptance and mourning, uniting people in shared memory and reflection.

Fr. Marius

Our Lady of Fatima urged, "I want you to pray the Rosary every day for peace in the world, the conversion of sinners, and an end to wars." Let's make an effort to obey Mary's call and pray the Rosary daily. In our parish, the Rosary is prayed every day after the Holy Mass, and on Sundays, it is prayed before the Mass.

 The Rosary prayer is a prayer that unites everyone, as everyone can find something for themselves in it. A mystic may devote themselves to meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, a contemplative may imagine Gospel scenes, and an activist may pray the Rosary quickly, ten by ten. The prayer is simple and suitable for the poor and the rich, for children, adults, and the elderly. We all learned it as children, and in adult life, we may reach for the rosary in difficult moments, problems, troubles, and doubts. Soren Kierkegaard said: "A man without faith stumbles over a blade of straw, with faith he moves mountains." This also applies to the rosary prayer – those who use it speak about miracles, strengthened faith, and achieving the impossible.

 The origins of the Rosary prayer date back to the times of the Desert Fathers in the third and fourth centuries. They used strings to count repeated prayers. The word rosary is not only associated with the prayer itself but also with the characteristic chaplet (prayer rope) used to count the number of repeated parts of the prayer. The spread of the Rosary prayer is attributed to the Dominican Blessed Alain de la Roche (†1475), who initiated the Church's tradition according to which the Blessed Virgin inspired St. Dominic Guzman to pray the Rosary for the conversion of heretical Albigensians and sinners.

The Rosary prayer, which consists of the repeated 'Hail Mary', is a call to Mary, the Mother of God, asking for support. A humorous analogy on Facebook compares the rosary prayer to little Jesus pulling Mary's robe, shouting: "Mom, mom, mom..." In a similar way, we call to Our Lady for help as we move the beads of the rosary. Although God is the one who works miracles, Mary intercedes for us and asks with us, as if she were crying out to God on our behalf. Mary cares for us when we feel bad, like a real mother. Each of us carries a different image of a mother in our hearts based on our experiences, but Mary surpasses even our imaginations. St. John Paul II often spoke about the intercession and role of Mary, entrusting his life and pontificate to her.

The 16th century in Europe's history was when its inhabitants once again faced the threat of Muslim armies. This time the aggressor is Turkey, which has just reached the peak of its power and is looking more and more greedily at the countries in the northern part of the Mediterranean. The growing threat from it reached its climax in the early 1670s, when Pius V, a Dominican, was pope.

Faced with the risk that the State of the Church would turn into a province of the Ottoman Empire, the pope took political action: he established the Holy League, began to collect troops and money for their maintenance, and thought about strategy. However, he did not neglect the spiritual side and reached for a measure proven by hundreds of years of practice in his order – he addressed the whole Church with a call to pray the rosary in the intention of the victory of Christians.

The day of the decisive battle fell on October 7, 1571, the first Sunday of the month – the day that the Dominicans celebrated as the remembrance of Mary, Queen of the Rosary. At Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth, two powerful naval armies faced each other, and the Pope and the faithful fell to their knees with rosaries in their hands.

During the prayer, Pius V had a vision in which he saw the bay where the battle was taking place, and above it Mary looking calmly at the struggle. Our Lady assured the Pope of victory. And indeed – no sooner had the battle begun than the wind unfavourable to the armies of the Holy League died down. The outnumbered Turkish ships were scattered, only a small number of them managed to escape. The blow was so strong that the Turkish fleet never regained its glory.

To commemorate this event, Pius V established the remembrance of Our Lady of Victory on October 7, and two years later Pope Gregory XIII designated the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on the first Sunday of October. This concerned only the territories of the State of the Church, until in the eighteenth century, Clement XI, in gratitude for the defeat of the Truks near Belgrade, extended this feast to the entire Church. In the twentieth century, as part of the liturgical reform, Pius X moved the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to October 7.

A few dozen years earlier, in 1883, Leo XIII ordered the invocation 'Queen of the Rosary' to be inscribed in the Litany of Loreto. He also, two years later, ordered that the Rosary be prayed every day throughout October. And so the Dominican way of defeating the enemy became a tactic known throughout the Church. Known and highly valued.

Life Chain is a prayerful and peaceful witness to the sanctity of human life and the evil of abortion. Participants pray and hold signs with messages such as “Abortion kills children” & “Abortions hurts women” at hundreds of locations across North America for one hour. Please join us at MacLeod Trail, between Heritage Drive to Southland Drive on Sunday, October 6 from 2-3pm. This is a family-friendly event appropriate for people of all ages. It’s a unique opportunity to provide our neighbours with a much-needed message of love, hope, and truth. Remember how Our Lord asked His apostles: “Could you not watch one hour with me?” (Mk 14:37)

On September 21, we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles and the author of the first Gospel. The name "Matthew" is derived from the Hebrew form "Matthaios, "meaning "gift of God." According to tradition, Matthew remained in Palestine for some time after Christ's Ascension. He wrote the Gospel in Aramaic, not in Greek, specifically for the Jews to learn about Christ's teachings and to demonstrate Jesus Christ as the Messiah by referencing the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The time of its creation is uncertain, estimated to be between 50 and 60 AD. It is not known who translated the Gospel according to St. Matthew into Greek and when. According to Christian tradition, he was martyred in Ethiopia, and the circumstances of his death remain unknown. His relics have been in Salerno near Naples, Italy, since the 10th century.

St. Matthew is the patron saint of tax collectors, accountants, financial officials, and bankers.

The symbol of St. Matthew is a winged man, representing his transformation from a tax collector, one of the most despised figures in Jewish culture, to a disciple of Jesus, who looked at him with love and called him to follow. Through Christ, Matthew discovered his human dignity and his relationship with God. He provided detailed descriptions of Jewish customs and rituals in his Gospel, emphasizing the importance of humanity. The Gospel of Matthew begins with a thorough examination of the genealogy and birth of Jesus Christ, highlighting his vulnerability as a child and during his death on the cross.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

SEPTEMBER 14

For Christians, the cross has always been sacred. As St. Paul put it, "The Greeks seek wisdom, the Jews demand signs, and we, as Christians, boast of the cross of Christ." From the very beginning, Jesus' disciples have been looking at the cross, which reminds them of the Lord, not only killed, but above all risen. The cross illustrates God's love and His saving power. It has always been a sign of consolation in distress and a longing for "being with Christ."

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Lord's Cross is celebrated by the Church on September 14. It commemorates the dedication of the Basilica of the Martyrs, also known as the Basilica of the Cross.

Before the beginning of the fourth century, Christians were not allowed to openly profess their faith, and Christianity developed in secret due to periods of bloody persecution. It was only after the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine in 313 that Christianity emerged publicly. Emperor Constantine's mother, St. Helena, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and ordered the search for the cross on which Jesus died. 

The cross was reportedly found on September 13 or 14, 326. Following this, the Basilica of the Martyrs (Martyrium) was built on Golgotha, and the Basilica of the Resurrection (Anastasis) at the site of the tomb. On September 13, 335, both basilicas were consecrated and handed over to the bishop. The next day, on September 14, the relics of the Holy Cross found a few years earlier were displayed to the public -- marking the first public adoration of the Cross.

These events are documented by the nun Egeria in her "Itinerarium Egeriae," where she mentions the dedication of both basilicas connected with the anniversary of the discovery of the relics of the Holy Cross. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross itself was initially introduced for churches that had relics of the Cross, and later extended to the entire Church.

In 614 A.D., the Persians invaded the Holy Land, destroying all the churches and taking away the Lord's Cross. The relics were returned after Emperor Heraclius' victory over the Persian army in 628. Legend has it that the emperor himself wanted to carry the Cross of Christ to Calvary, but could not go further than the city gates. The bishop advised him to remove his imperial robes, and barefoot, in coarse clothes, he brought the relics to the Basilica of the Cross, rebuilt after the destruction. However, it is a legend, as Cyril of Jerusalem, who died in the 4th century, mentions that at his time, the cross was divided into small relics and sent to all the surrounding churches.

The largest relic of the Holy Cross is now in the Church of St. Gudula in Brussels. In St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the relics that the Byzantine emperors wore on their chests during the greatest celebrations are kept. Large relics are also in the Roman Basilica of the Holy Cross.

Many saints showed a special devotion to the Passion of Christ and to the Holy Cross, and some were even graced with stigmata.

Since the first century, we have seen images of the cross depicted in various forms. The oldest cross found in a house was discovered in Herculaneum, buried by the volcano Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Since the 4th century, we have seen crosses without the figure of Jesus, richly decorated with precious stones. Realistic depictions of the scenes of Jesus' death on the cross have been made since the twelfth century. For Christians, the cross of Christ should be a sign of testimony and a confession of faith, rather than simply an element of interior decoration or personal jewelry.