It was nine o’clock in the morning when a friend texted me, an hour that neither one of us are inclined to typically acknowledge. “Happy All Saints’ Day!” she’d written.

“Huzzah!” I’d replied. “And you texted me just as I got out of Mass.”

“Look at you, attending Mass on a holy day of obligation!”

If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have selected eight a.m. I also wouldn’t have gone to my usual parish, thirty minutes from home, in the opposite direction of work. But I happened to have an appointment to look at a condo in the morning, at a place literally seven minutes away from the church, and that could be no accident.

There was a magic to it, attending church at an hour I prefer to still be in bed (even if I was slightly late, thanks to New Jersey traffic). The rising sunlight hadn’t fully reached the building yet, so the stained-glass windows were slightly darkened. Gradually, over the course of the Mass, they illuminated with the breaking of day. That’s an obvious metaphor if I ever saw one.

It wasn’t so long ago that I was unaware days of obligation were a thing. And are the saints really an “obligation” on par with Christmas, or Easter? Well, no. Nothing compares to the glory of Christ. But to be gathered with His children, honoring those faithful who came before us, at an hour I’m typically not inclined to acknowledge?

It was beautiful.

I almost went again, after work, at the parish near my office. Because there is more I can be doing, more to honor those who came before us. Instead, I came home. I curled up on the couch and continued my studies. Because it’s not enough to honor the saints—it’s also our duty to be them. To be one of the faithful.

At RCIA this week, we had a nun come to speak with us about prayer. I’d admitted my Protestant background during introductions, so when we discussed praying to the saints she looked directly at me and said, “You’re probably still unconvinced about that.”
I nervously laughed and replied, “I’m getting there.”

I’m sure there’s a patron saint out there for converts who are still wary about praying to saints.
Whoever you are… please pray for me.

“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night within his temple.” —Revelation 7:14–15