Greetings in Christ,
November first is All Saints Day, the feast in which we give thanks for the faith created in us at baptism, nurtured throughout our lives, and ushers us into the Kingdom as this life ends. We offer the nod to All Saints to remember those who have died in the past year. It is a time of hope and trust in the promises of the Father that sustained the departed. It is a time for those who remain to renew their confidence in God’s mercy.
Still, there are many feast days we give little notice or even know they exist at all. One of the casualties of the Reformation was attention to the feast days of the Church year. Some of the reformers were zealous to leave behind any Roman trappings, thus went feasts. Unfortunately, this took place. We have cut ourselves off from centuries of devotion and service to the Lord. The feast days helped the Church remember the sacrifice and commitment of those who have gone before us.
It is good that we are recovering many of the valuable things we shed following the Reformation. The saints and events remembered in the feasts of the Church year give us a stronger connection to those who followed the Lord from the day of His rising to this hour.