Welcome to the Shalom Blog

OUR NEW BLOG!

Part of Shalom’s vision is to help people to know, to grow and to lead in spreading God’s love and His message. One of the ways that we accomplish this vision is to run a top-notch retreat facility. However, we also want to reach beyond the walls of Maison Shalom House. To that end, we are starting a weekly blog. In this blog we will talk about a variety of topics, including:

• Maison Shalom House – past and present;

• Saints, Feast Days and Holidays;

• Our Catholic faith – the liturgical year, the Catechism and the Bible; and

• Whatever else Catholic that catches our fancy.

CELEBRATING THE SAINTS

Today, November 1st, is the Solemnity of All Saints, the day we celebrate all those who have entered Heaven, both recognized saints and those who are not publicly recognized.

Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash

This solemnity was first observed in the fourth century. It originally commemorated all the Martyrs of the Church. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV gathered up all the bones from the catacombs (28 wagons worth!) that had been plundered over the centuries. He had the bones reinterred beneath the Pantheon in Rome. The Pantheon was originally a temple to all gods but Pope Boniface IV consecrated it to be a Christian church. Today it remains a Catholic church.

CALLED TO BE SAINTS

Remember, we are all called to be saints! St. Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, wrote “to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours” (1 Cor 1:2). For many of us, our first thought is “there is no way I’ll ever be a saint!” But “We need to talk about becoming a saint with a lowercase s—one of the millions of unnamed and unknown persons who have found God in their lives and loved God with all their minds, souls and hearts.” (Franciscan Spirit Blog, November 9, 2021)

Many of the saints did great, heroic and virtuous things. But many of our greatest saints did very ordinary things. Saint Theresa of Lisieux died at the age of 24. She did not build orphanages, lead wars or found a religious order. Rather she did small things daily with great love. Blessed Carlo Acutis lived to be just 15 years old. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and his greatest wish was for others to know and love Jesus as he did.

Our Little Local Saints!

Remember, we don’t make ourselves saints, rather it is through God’s help and grace that daily we work towards our own sainthood.

On this Solemnity of All Saints, big or small, go do something saintly!

But before you do, let us know in the comments who your favourite saint is and why!