November may rhyme with somber and, in a certain sense, it truly is, what with its commemoration of the dead that in our country, thanks be to God, is still widely celebrated and regarded very seriously, if sentimentally.
It’s also the month when the liturgical calendar ends with readings revolving around the end time, thereby casting a pall over it. Indeed, it’s the month when we are encouraged to consider the so-called Last Things—death, judgment, hell and, of course, heaven.
But it actually is a happy month, because it also brings with it the celebration of solemnity of all saints, and somehow brings to the fore this truth of faith about our communion of saints—the reality that we are all united in Christ, those in heaven, those still purifying in purgatory and those still struggling here on earth.
We are one people of God, a family with ties more intimate than what flesh and blood can achieve. And that’s because we are, by God’s will, children of his, created in his image and likeness. That’s the truth that applies to each one of us and all of us together.
November then highlights the need for us to be more aware of our responsibility for one another. We are a people. We are a family. We are the Church, the mystical body of Christ, whose members we are, members who need to be vitally united to him and to one another.
We have to realize more deeply that we have a great task to preserve the unity and identity of this family of God. This task falls on everyone of us though in different ways. And one very important and indispensable aspect of this task is to carry out a lifelong work of evangelization.
Evangelization can be described as the vital transmission of the lifeblood of truth that comes from God and meant not only to sustain us but also to lead us to our ultimate perfection and salvation. It’s truth that brings us not only some worldly benefits, but rather nothing less than heaven.
It’s truth that definitely are not simply abstract ideas or mere intellectual affairs of ours. It’s truth that comes always with charity, that addresses us in our whole being as body and soul, and as children of God, and brothers and sisters to one another.
This truth is nothing other than our faith that gives us the ultimate meaning of everything in our life. We have to be clear about the fact that nothing in our life is outside the purview of our faith. It’s faith that gives us the whole picture of things, the ultimate purpose of our earthly concerns.
We should disabuse ourselves from the tendency to think that we can arrive at the ultimate definition and understanding of things through our reason alone and our human sciences. Yes, they are necessary, but always together with faith.
Let’s always remember what St. John said: “This is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.” (1 Jn 5,4) The final victory cannot be in any other. Evangelization therefore can be a very demanding task, because it frowns upon any attempt to make short-cuts that can achieve a certain degree of efficiency and convenience, but can sacrifice the demands, especially the finer demands of charity.
It demands nothing less than truly internalizing our faith, making it flesh of our flesh, so to speak, so that everything is viewed and understood always in terms of our faith and not just of our reasoning, no matter how brilliantly logical and appealing our reasoning may be.
But it’s also an easy task, because first of all there’s God’s grace that is never wanting. And we are already given all the means to make this evangelization ever new and fresh, ever relevant and effective. We have the doctrine now well articulated and systematized. We have the sacraments, etc.
What is needed is our correspondence that is supposed to be generous and unstinting. In this regard, it would be good that those who occupy positions of great influence in our society—our politicians, teachers, people in media, celebrities, etc.—be well formed in their Christian faith and give consistent witness to it, not scandal.
The effort to highlight the original and perennial link between faith and reason should be made always. The modern mind, immersed in reasoning, the sciences and technology, needs to see and be convinced of this connection.
Those more intellectually gifted should lead the way in doing this—of course, in all humility, lest they repel instead of attract others.