He Dwells Among Us

As the people of God, we need one another’s help to draw closer to Christ.

Pray for me.” No doubt we have made this request of others many times and have likewise been asked by others to pray for them. We need help, and people need our help. But although we understand the importance of not neglecting our relationship with others, particularly the poor and needy, too many neglect their relationship with another community that is no less important—the saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory.

Most people are pretty selective about those from whom we ask for prayer. After all, when we need specific help with concerns in our everyday life, we generally approach people whom we know are dependable and knowledgeable about what it is we need help with. It’s even better if they have “connections” and can put in a good word for us in the process. If this is the case in our earthly relationships, then all the more should we should seek the help of the saints whom the Church tells us are closest to God.

We celebrate the great Solemnity of All Saints Day each Nov. 1, reminded that the Church exists not only on earth, where we struggle in our pilgrimage of faith (the Church Militant), but also in heaven, where those who are now in glory contemplate the full light of God (the Church Triumphant). We invoke their intercession, as we do in the Litany of the Saints, and ask them to pray for us.

The following day we commemorate All Souls, when the Church recalls all the faithful departed. We are especially reminded to pray for the souls in purgatory (the Church Suffering)—those who have died in God’s friendship but who need to be purged of imperfections from which they were not purified during their earthly life. Like those emerging from darkness into daylight, these souls are not yet ready to behold the fullness of God’s light until they have fully adjusted to the purity of his love. They, like us, need the help of the Christian community to draw nearer to Christ, and therefore they call out, “pray for us.”

Although all analogies are insufficient at some level, we might think of they way doctors and nurses prepare themselves before entering into the environment of an operating room. They must scrupulously wash and scrub themselves and put on clothes that have likewise been purified before they can enter the surgical theater. Likewise, we must be washed and clothed in our wedding garment without “stain or wrinkle” (Ephesians 5:27) if we are to enter the wedding feast of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 19:7-9).

The saints have entered this feast before us, and we should ask them to help us keep our own wedding garment clean until the day we hope to join them. I have entrusted mine to Our Blessed Mother, to St. Joseph, and to one of the heroes of the Church close to my heart and my priesthood: Blessed John Paul II. Although they are dear to me and I ask for their intercessory help daily, they also have a special relationship with our diocese.

Because our diocese was founded on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on Sept. 8, 1988, Our Lady is our principal patroness. But on Oct. 3 this year I also signed a decree that declared Blessed John Paul II as the co-patron of our diocese, whose feast day we now celebrate on Oct. 22.

So on All Saints and All Souls Day, as we should every day throughout the year, let us honor Our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, Blessed John Paul II, and all of the saints and implore their special intercession and help, striving daily to pray for the living and the dead.

Please pray for me, and be assured of my continued prayers for you.