mark nov1: Good morning, holy ones. Did you know Saint Paul says that in his some of his letters he says he's he s says, Peace be you, holy ones, saints. Who's he talking to? Christians. Catholic. Did you know you're holy? We'll get into that in a minute, but first I want to say they're great, aren't they? The children over there. So thanks, kids. So that's how we're all supposed to be participating in mass. They're a great model. Jesus says, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom. What he means is he wants you to enter into the glory of his kingdom now. He wants you to experience his glory, his joy, his life. You see that, you hear it in them, right? So I just challenge you when you participate, really sing, even if you can't hit a note because you're a saint. He just loves it, you're trying. He loves that you're here and that you are trying. Today's All Saints, we celebrate God's triumph, not our triumph, God's triumph already done and not yet. What do I mean by that? So today's, tomorrow's all souls. Today we celebrate all the men and women who are with God in heaven. The church calls that the communion of saints. So, as Catholics, when we say church, we think of just church, like people I see right now. The church. You're the church on earth, there's the church in heaven, and then there's church in purgatory. You see, our brothers and sisters who have died, they don't cease being members of the body of Christ. Isn't that awesome? They're still a part of us, we're part and it will be forever because of their baptism into Christ. That's why, as Catholics, we pray to the saints. We do not worship the saints. Because sometimes Protestants misunderstand us. We just love the darn out of them. We love them because they're great models for us. And we ask them to intercede for us because they're not dead. They're alive. And they're with us right now in this liturgy. Did you know all your loved ones who are with God in heaven? Purgatory? So that means they're here right now. Did you know that? So in the liturgy, when I hear people say the mass is boring, if we could if God took the veil off our eyes and let us really see what's going on in this space right now, you would all run out of here. Terrified. Because the first reading from the book of Revelation, Saint John had a vision of the heavenly liturgy. He saw all these martyrs, men and women, worshiping the Lamb on his altar. That sound familiar to anybody? Right here. We come to worship the Lamb. And we're gonna after the after the consecration, the priest says, Behold the Lamb of God. He doesn't say, Behold, a piece of bread. He says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And all the heavens, all the angels and saints, all your loved ones are with God. They're here with you right now. I love this feast day because I find it so comforting, don't you? To know our loved ones are okay. And they're up there praying for you. They're waving their little pom poms. You ever see all these great fans of whatever team your favorite team is? Raising pom poms. They're up there going shh. That's what it says in the reading. They're that's P-A-L-M-S. They're w they're waving palms. We're waving palms. So they're cheering you on. They're interceding. They're up there going, please help my girls and boys, my grandkids, please. They're up there praying. And we they don't need our prayers, they're in heaven, but they're praying for you. And they're praying that you join them. They're praying for a sp specific thing that you become who you are. Holy. We celebrate God's triumph already. They're already there, but also not yet. Who's the not yet? Me and you. We're still a work in progress. I got a lot to work on. I don't know about you. This guy here, a lot to work on. I need a lot of grace, a lot of sanctifying grace. But you're still holy. In a few minutes, we're gonna well, we don't do the creed today, darn it. But when we normally do the creed on Sunday or holy days, there's a part in there that says, I believe in one holy Catholic Church. Have you ever thought Who you're talking about when you say church? You. You're saying I believe I'm holy. Now, how many of y'all believe you're holy? Raise your hand. You better all raise your hand, I'm gonna come get you. Because what does it mean to be holy? See, I think I always thought holy meant, you're perfect. You don't sin. Well, good luck. No, holy means the word itself means set apart. So in your baptism, you were set apart. Set apart from what? Set apart from this world, the spirit of this world. Set apart for a sacred and divine purpose. And what is that purpose? To glorify God the way you live. Your lifestyle, in other words, the way you live and act and speak should give glory to God and not to this world. In other words, to be set apart means you have you should look different than a non believer. And unfortunately, as Catholics, our lifestyles don't look much different than a non believer. I can attest to that. Not now, I hope, but. Long before I got a call to the priesthood, which was later in my life, I lived very much in the world, lived in Nashville, was in all we won't go there. My life was really not set apart. It looked just like everybody else, but w the only time it looked different is when I came here. That's why people say, You're you are you guys are hypocrites. In a way, they're kind of tr they're kind of right. But that's what it means to be holy. It means you've been set apart. You've been set and God's given you this life. He's given you everything you need to glorify Him, to give witness to Him. He's given us the sacraments. He's given us the most powerful sacrament right here, the Eucharist. He's given you his body, blood, so and divinity, so that you can become what you eat. St. Augustine says we become what we eat. That you become Christ. You are Christ. Did you know that one? I'm throwing some curveballs at you, aren't I? You're like, well, Father Mark, I never knew that. Small case C, not big case, small case. Christ means anointed. Were you anointed? When were you anointed? Thank you. Where else were you anointed? Okay, and for me I got a I got an extra. Ordination. It means you've been set apart, you've been anointed, you've been empowered to give glory to Him. So that's what it means to be holy. See, we don't become holy by going to church. We become holy by being the church. You see the difference? It's easy to you look very churchy right now. You know you're here. But what do you look like? What's it look like out there in your workplaces? Can people, do they even know you're Catholic or Christian? Do you give witness to Jesus Christ? See the way you live? Not that you're perfect. See, Jesus got all he's got all this covered. So when you do mess up, go to confession. Right? You see, he really does want to help us. He he's with us, he's inside of us. And he wants us, he's here to help us, to be our strength. So that we we with Jesus can give glory to the Father. That that's why we're here. So you were born for one reason. The reason you exist in this world right now, in this time in history, is to become a saint. That's why you're here. That's your goal. It's not about making a ton of money and having all these nice things. Not that there's anything wrong with that as long as I'm using those things for his glory. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think as as Christians, as Catholics, we can easily lose our focus sometime and forget who we are. We're holy, set apart. Anointed. We can easily forget that and we get it we get so caught up in this world. I think our biggest challenge as Christians, as Catholics, is to be in this world but not be of it. Would would you agree with that? It's hard to be in the world but not get caught up in it. So we prayed today, we pray for our brothers and sisters who are making their first step. These are all the those who are going to be baptized at Easter Vigil. So we're excited that you're here with us on this journey to sainthood. That's why you're coming into the church. You want to be saints. You want to become just like him. You want to be one with him. So we're excited that you're here. We're praying for you. And we're praying for all of you, for all of us. God is triumphant. Already He's done. He's finished. It is finished, but there's the not yet. Us. But don't be discouraged by your sin. Don't be discouraged. The Father loves you. You're his children. Right? You're his children. He's up there. Him and all his saints are angels are praying for us. And they're here right now. They're going to be laying prostrate in a few minutes. You're not going to you can't see this, but. They're gonna be here when the lamb comes on all they're gonna lay prostrate. So we're so blessed as Catholics.