All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1. The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. It should not be confused with All Souls' Day, which is observed on November 2, and is dedicated to those who have died and not yet reached heaven.

On Saturday, 31 October 2020 at 11 am, the Hartford Cathedral of Saint Joseph will be home to the celebration of the Beatification Mass of the late Hartford priest, Fr. Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus (KOC) and Hartford parish priest who died at the age of 38 during the pandemic of 1898-1890.

Just a friendly reminder about your All Souls’ envelopes and the PRINTING of names of our deceased family and friends for the Sunday Masses on October 31st and November 1st, as we recall and pray for their noble souls. And that the names of your loved ones shall be remembered in prayer all November long at both the daily and weekend Masses

This weekend, as our nation enters the homestretch of the political season, is a perfect time for Sunday’s scriptural message of Love from a Divine standard especially as our nation appears to be “at odds” with herself, it is good to hear the messages of compassion, love, mercy all wrapped up into action—reminding us that our Catholic faith is not just a faith of the intellect, but also one of action—being lived us all.

In the Catholic tradition, we celebrate All Souls Day by remembering our dearly departed in prayer, for the repose of their noble souls, and to assist them in-and-through our prayers on their journey to Eternal Life. It is common belief today that once someone dies they go straight into the Kingdom—no questions asked, and while that is our hope, we know that Christ and His Church teaches that for some, there may be a “place” which provides time and grace to purify the soul.

As a faith community, we are called to be people of prayer—and that is what we shall do. We need to pray for our Nation and all in our government who lead her. For the President and First Lady, for our Speaker of the House and Senate and House Majority- and Minority-Leaders, and for everybody up-and-down the tickets and at every level of government.

Each of us has been given a vineyard from God in which to work and to produce good fruits: our families, our marriages, our work places, the community in which we live, even our church parishes. We have also been instructed not only of what we are to do with the various vineyards given to us, but how we are to accomplish this work. Over the centuries God has enlightened us with His Wisdom and taught us what to do so that the fruit we produce in the here-and-now will benefit us in the Eternal Vineyard