Lest we allow the world to dictate to us what we should know, say and ascribe to, let us be super clear. Halloween, which we celebrated last night, is ours – it belongs to all Catholics of the World. As with Easter and Christmas, Halloween has been stripped of its meaning and spiritual richness by commercial interests and likely through the work of other forces and powers. For Halloween is firmly and fully planted in Catholic history and devotion. It is the evening or “een” of All Hallows Day – otherwise known as All Saints Day, which we celebrate today as a Solemnity. Halloween predates modern commercialism and has deep Catholic roots. We can trace these roots simply and easily to Pope Sixtus IV who in 1484, years before Stop and Shop got its hands on it, established November 1st as a Holy Day of Obligation and gave it a vigil, “All Hallows Eve” or Halloween. Back in the 15th century, all Saints Day was day one in an 8-day celebration or octave. This Octave of All Saints was abolished in 1955 under Pope Pius XII.
So, Halloween is ours and it points to and prepares us for All Saints Day. A day we remember and honor all saints – all those, known to us, but also those who remain unknown to us, who are in heaven. Saints of every age, every generation, every race, and from every part of the world. These saints form the cloud of witnesses that speak to us, invite us, to do what they did, and to follow them in this life and into the next.
And should these holy and virtuous souls appear too distant from us, too accomplished for us to possibly relate to, then let us not forget they started their journeys exactly where we start ours: as sinful and lost souls who seek reconciliation with a Father that sends his son to find us. Like us there are many former sinners in the ranks; St. Matthew the much-hated tax collector, St. Augustine who struggled with lust as so many today do, and St. Mary of Egypt who spent 17 years in the desert to overcome her predilection to sin. We recount the ways these man and women would turn their life around and so win their race. But we should also recall those holy souls who struggled with faith itself, especially towards the ends of their lives. The little flower - St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who in the last 18 months of her life, dying from tuberculosis, would endure her trial of faith. And Mother Teresa of Calcutta who would spend the last 50 years of her life feeling abandoned and empty and missing the felt presence of God that she had known when she was younger.
All these Holy Men and Woman of God who today the church recognizes as Saints, were sinners in need of God’s grace. Who else do we know is a sinner in need of God’s grace? We need not go far.
The beatitudes we read in our Gospel today point to the saints as examples of those who struggled with and finally conformed to them. And these same saints point back at the beatitudes so that we can know how we too must go. For whether we struggle with our inclination to sin or whether we struggle with questions of faith itself, the beatitudes remain an anchor for us as they were for all saints. They guide us towards the understanding that authentic joy comes, not from wealth, comfort, power, and influence, but by a purity of heart that is not waylaid by the world. Jesus tells us we are blessed, we belong to his kingdom, we are his, by way of humility, righteousness, mercy, peacemaking, and even persecution.
I would never place myself in danger by standing between your children and free candy. So, feel free to celebrate Halloween as you wish but do not forget; Halloween points to the Saints. And the Saints point to the life of beatitude. This life is not always easy or without its challenges. But all these hurdles, difficulties and even heartbreaks will one day be seen in a clear light, and we will join the heavenly choir in saying, "Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
Deacon Peter Bujwid
St. Agnes Church, Arlington, MA.
October 31, 2026
Sunday, November 1, 2026
Sunday, October 18, 2026
A – Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We are all familiar with masquerade balls. An event where the participants and dancers wear a mask to disguise their identity. Masquerade balls were very popular in the Elizabethan era of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In England, Masquerades were a means for nobles to seek and secure royal favor. And for the Queen to show off the wealth and cultural power of England to foreign rivals such as Spain and France.
Masquerade balls are one example of where masks were worn but throughout history and in many regions of the world, masks have and continue to be used in dance, religious ceremonies, cultural performances, and so on.
We may not think of ourselves as wearing masks, but we do present ourselves in different ways in different contexts. We are most relaxed and possibly closest to our true selves when at home with family or friends, and we are most formal in a professional or similar setting where we put on our work mask. This is all well and good – nice professional work attire while at work, fuzzy slippers when at home. But in today’s gospel reading Jesus does point out a problem - when the mask we may be wearing gets in the way of salvation itself.
In hearing the words of the gospel today we quickly understand what is being presenting to us: ‘It is not what we say that counts, but what we do.’ For the first son initially said no to his father when asked to work in the vineyard but later would do as he was asked. The second son said yes to his father’s instruction but ultimately would not go and work in the vineyard. Jesus asks the chief priests and elders, which son did his father’s will and clearly, it was the first son who initially had said no. But now Jesus uses this story to confront the elders and chief priests telling them that it was the tax collectors and the prostitutes who heard the words of John the Baptist and took them to heart thereby winning entry into the Kingdom. And it was the leaders who refused and rejected them. What was it that the prostitutes and tax collectors had that the leaders did not? Pope Francis would describe that first son as a sincere sinner and the second son as being corrupt. Though having all the appearances of a good son, even saying the right things, he remained corrupt, unable to respond to the words of the father. And it is to this son that Jesus compares the chief priests and elders to. They had constructed for themselves a public mask that could not be taken off because it had all the pretense of righteousness – a self-constructed image held onto with a tight grip, unable to be relinquished. This is the challenge of the corrupt person – to them repentance is so difficult, since to truly repent, the sense of righteousness, the notion of being good of being better than the other, must be put down. The mask hiding the true face must be taken off to expose all the wrinkles, the creases, warts, and all. Only then can a sinner repent for he now sees clearly his fault and so is open to the work of God upon his heart. This is exactly what the prostitutes and tax collectors had done turning aside from a life of sin. On the other hand, the elders and chief priests were too attached to their public mask of righteousness.
This parable is a warning for all of us who are Jesus’s disciples for we read, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father" (Mt 7:21). Outward religious identity is not enough if the transformation began in us in baptism is not pursued and lived out each day.
We are to take off any false masks of righteousness we may have constructed for ourselves, and we are to look at our true face in the mirror of the Gospel. We are to be just like those Tax Collectors and Prostitutes and to set aside what makes us like the Chief Priests and elders. We do this by examining our conscience, receiving the sacraments, and becoming humble just as Jesus was. We listen to what the Father has to say to us, and then we simply do it.
Deacon Peter Bujwid
Agnes Church, Arlington, MA.
Holy Hour for Life 2026
God IS love. This is the very essence of Trinity since there is the one who loves, the one who is loved and the love that passes from one to the other. Love is God’s very essence. It is his very nature, his whole being. So, in the trinity we find the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of love, full, complete, nothing to be added and nothing to be taken away. Before all else was – this love was; all encompassing, complete, and eternal. Yes, God is love. But God is also life. He is not just alive as a tree or bird may be but rather, as Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us, He is Life itself. He is the very act of being. So, God does not have life as a possession or an attribute, as we do, but He is being itself, life itself. God’s love is creative, and from His love all other life springs forth. We know something about that, since in one way or another we have each experienced the life-giving force of love, be it the creative power of art, science, engineering, teaching, or be it the intimacy between a husband and wife. Love is creative and it follows the pattern laid down by our God.
As the author of life, it is only God who has the authority to give life and to take it. God and God alone is the Lord of Live and Death. He alone has sovereignty over it, and he alone delegates that to others as he wills – to doctors, to parents, to others, in limited ways and as situations may demand. But in each and every one of these situations God remains the Lord of Life and at no point are we to do with life simply as we please. The Catechism teaches that all human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God himself, and this human life remains forever in a special and unique relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. If we recognize that truth, we easily see that each life has a God given dignity which no government, no court, no loud and demanding court of public opinion can or should try to supplant. This is why the Catholic Church stands firm and teaches without apology or compromise the affront to God and to life that abortion, suicide, euthanasia, and cloning are and will always be. To reject and destroy life is to blind oneself to love. It is the shattering of wisdom and clarity; it is the abandonment of conscience, and it is the embrace of confusion and loss. It is the ascendance of darkness and death, and yes evil.
This loss of conscience, of clarity, this clear rejection of the God’s plan of life, is thrown into clear relief with the recently passed ‘Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act’ (August 10, 2026) which permits abortion throughout pregnancy removing all statutory limitations. Let us pause just there. Imagine abortion up until the moment of birth. With this new law, it will be up to the physician’s judgement, with all time limits and restrictions removed.
This is where we have now arrived, and I fear will continue from. This is what our Commonwealth puts on display and promotes as patient care. Is this care for the child? Is this care for the mother? Is this care for our youth, and especially for our young girls, who continue to witness how little society and culture appear to really care for them.
So, what can we do? In the recent letter from the Bishops of Massachusetts on this subject, we are told to pray, to witness, to speak up and to choose life and to promote that message within our families and to our youth. But we must also prepare, for the repeal of this law, though in process, is unlikely, and there will be many broken lives, many broken hearts, truly suffering souls who will need our attention. There will be many who will for the rest of their lives carry the heavy burden of a momentary yet truly devastating decision. We, you and I, will find ourselves in times and places where we can share the message we have each received, the message of forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, and peace. The message that tells us that this God of Life is also the God of Love who rejects no one who comes to Him. This God who invites without restraint all to come into and abide in the love relationship of the triune God. For within him we live and move and have our being. Within him is a mercy unfathomable, deep and without limit. As we look upon the other, the hurting and broken hearted, we must see in each the face of Jesus and so be moved to comfort them. We must share with them the solace that is found only in the One who created us, gave us life, loved us into being.
As we sit now before our Lord, we pray for all those impacted by abortion by suicide, and by euthanasia (currently illegal in the Commonwealth but legal in Vermont and Maine). We pray that God gives us his mercy, that we experience his love in our lives and that we carry his message of forgiveness and mercy wherever it needs to be heard.
Amen.
Deacon Peter Bujwid
St Agnes Church, Arlington, Massachusetts
As the author of life, it is only God who has the authority to give life and to take it. God and God alone is the Lord of Live and Death. He alone has sovereignty over it, and he alone delegates that to others as he wills – to doctors, to parents, to others, in limited ways and as situations may demand. But in each and every one of these situations God remains the Lord of Life and at no point are we to do with life simply as we please. The Catechism teaches that all human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God himself, and this human life remains forever in a special and unique relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. If we recognize that truth, we easily see that each life has a God given dignity which no government, no court, no loud and demanding court of public opinion can or should try to supplant. This is why the Catholic Church stands firm and teaches without apology or compromise the affront to God and to life that abortion, suicide, euthanasia, and cloning are and will always be. To reject and destroy life is to blind oneself to love. It is the shattering of wisdom and clarity; it is the abandonment of conscience, and it is the embrace of confusion and loss. It is the ascendance of darkness and death, and yes evil.
This loss of conscience, of clarity, this clear rejection of the God’s plan of life, is thrown into clear relief with the recently passed ‘Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act’ (August 10, 2026) which permits abortion throughout pregnancy removing all statutory limitations. Let us pause just there. Imagine abortion up until the moment of birth. With this new law, it will be up to the physician’s judgement, with all time limits and restrictions removed.
This is where we have now arrived, and I fear will continue from. This is what our Commonwealth puts on display and promotes as patient care. Is this care for the child? Is this care for the mother? Is this care for our youth, and especially for our young girls, who continue to witness how little society and culture appear to really care for them.
So, what can we do? In the recent letter from the Bishops of Massachusetts on this subject, we are told to pray, to witness, to speak up and to choose life and to promote that message within our families and to our youth. But we must also prepare, for the repeal of this law, though in process, is unlikely, and there will be many broken lives, many broken hearts, truly suffering souls who will need our attention. There will be many who will for the rest of their lives carry the heavy burden of a momentary yet truly devastating decision. We, you and I, will find ourselves in times and places where we can share the message we have each received, the message of forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, and peace. The message that tells us that this God of Life is also the God of Love who rejects no one who comes to Him. This God who invites without restraint all to come into and abide in the love relationship of the triune God. For within him we live and move and have our being. Within him is a mercy unfathomable, deep and without limit. As we look upon the other, the hurting and broken hearted, we must see in each the face of Jesus and so be moved to comfort them. We must share with them the solace that is found only in the One who created us, gave us life, loved us into being.
As we sit now before our Lord, we pray for all those impacted by abortion by suicide, and by euthanasia (currently illegal in the Commonwealth but legal in Vermont and Maine). We pray that God gives us his mercy, that we experience his love in our lives and that we carry his message of forgiveness and mercy wherever it needs to be heard.
Amen.
Deacon Peter Bujwid
St Agnes Church, Arlington, Massachusetts
October 18, 2026