purpose [pur-puhs]
the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used; an intended or desired result
Synonyms include: ambition, aspiration, intent

Being a product of a Catholic education, the first 2 days of November have always been, and may always be, commemorated for the same reasons. On November 1st we celebrate All Saints Day, remembering the regular folk who lived extraordinary lives for the love of the Lord. On November 2nd we celebrate All Souls Day (El Dia de los Muertos...I can never forget this specifically because of Spanish class), remembering our loved ones who have passed from this world into the next divine one. On both days we are reminded of people who are absent from the present, but whose lives in the past have come to affect us in many ways.

During my freshman year at UCI, one of my dorm mates asked me to explain to someone who wasn't Catholic why we pay homage to saints. I barely got through the first sentence before he started ranting, "you Catholics talk about your one God, yet here you are building shrines for these idols, these saints of yours...and Mary. You should only be worshiping ONE God." I think I stood speechless for about 5 seconds, in shock from the very first verbal attack I had ever received for my faith. And then I, very calmly but sternly, let him have it.

I don't expect people who don't share my faith to approve of how and what we practice; but it is MY faith to have and practice - not his or anyone's. I think saints were ordinary people, like most of us are, who chose to live their lives with 110% of their faith that they managed to do extraordinary things. Every saint acted on their "moment of grace," Fr. Joe said today. Everyone gets that moment when they're given a choice, a chance, to make their lives right and to give their lives purpose.

The souls who once belonged to earthly hosts, they each had a purpose; to be mother or father, grandmother or grandfather, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, friend or enemy. Sometimes this isn't obvious until they're gone, just when their purpose has been fulfilled. If everyone were capable of identifying their purpose in this world, can you imagine order of all things?...

"Power, properly understood, is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.