Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. We start November, as each year, with the celebration of All Saints Day - more appropriately, the Solemnity of All Saints. This celebration is particularly important on two levels. Firstly, it reminds us of what is possible for us. Any study of the saints - and we should take time to read their stories - shows us a group of flawed, sometimes confused, often desperate, idealistic - but not knowing how to do it right - people. Boiling the saints down to their starting point would leave us to wonder how they ever got to sainthood. Yet they did! We know who we are and the challenges we face, but we too can do it, we can get there and be exactly those saints needed in our households, our workplaces, and in our immediate community. That sainthood process advances in tiny increments. It is rarely - one day we are this, the next we are that. Rather, it is a struggle - and one worth engaging in.

Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope based on Him makes himself pure, as He is pure. We take a brief sojourn today from our contemplation of Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem before His arrest, death, and burial. We jump back to His Sermon on the Mount wherein He is illustrating the life we are to live as His followers. On this All Saints Day, we consider those who took Jesus up on His offer. They entered and lived through a way-of-life that works for all who desire eternal life. As St. John tells us, they made themselves pure as Jesus is pure so they might be like Him.

Let us pray. Almighty Father, grant the goodness of Your mercy upon Bishop-elect Charles Zawistowski, that having been chosen and consecrated to Your Church, he may serve with the zeal of the apostles before him. Aided by his wife, children and family, may the episcopal ministry reflect the teaching of scripture and tradition, and may his love for You prevail over all. This we beseech You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

The core of the call: Saint Paul writes his first letter to Timothy, Chapter 3 verses 1-7: “The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way - for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.”

St. Hippolytus, in “The Apostolic Tradition” Writes: Let the bishop be ordained (consecrated) after he has been chosen by all the people. When someone pleasing to all has been named, let the people assemble on the Lord’s Day with the presbyters (priests) and with such bishops as may be present. All giving assent, the bishops shall impose hands on him, and the presbytery shall stand in silence. Indeed, all shall remain silent, praying in their hearts for the descent of the Spirit.

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Recall back a few weeks when I mentioned our gospels are taken from Jesus final week in Jerusalem before His arrest, death, and burial. The gospels we have read focus on the challenges to Jesus from both the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They tried to trap Jesus with questions about taxes, the resurrection, and today about the greatest commandment. These discourses will go on in the weeks to come, eventually leading to Jesus’ final teachings on the end times.

Reflecting on the Eucharist & Holy Orders before the Lord’s Day. The clearest view of the early Church’s worship outside of scripture is The Didache, which includes “Assemble on the Lord’s day, and break bread and offer the Eucharist; but first make confession of your faults, so that your sacrifice may be a pure one. Anyone who has a difference with his fellow is not to take part with you until he has been reconciled, so as to avoid any profanation of Your sacrifice [Matt. 5:23–24]. For this is the offering of which the Lord has said, ‘Everywhere and always bring Me a sacrifice that is undefiled, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and My Name is the wonder of nations’ (A.D. 70).

Reflecting on a call to serve. Let us pray. Almighty and loving Father, we, the members of the Polish National Catholic Church and beyond come before You with grateful hearts, lifting Your servant, Bishop-elect Charles Zawistowski. We thank You for his priestly ministry and for calling him to serve Your people as a bishop in the Polish National Catholic Church. As he prepares for his consecration, fill him with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Grant him wisdom to discern Your will, courage to proclaim Your truth, and humility to seek Your guidance in every responsibility entrusted to him.

For the souls the bishop aids with the Sacraments. The Beautiful Hands of a Priest. We need them in life’s early morning, we need them again at its close; We feel their warm clasp of friendship, we seek them when tasting life’s woes. At the altar each day we behold them, and the hands of a king on his throne Are not equal to them in their greatness; their dignity stands all alone; And when we are tempted and wander to pathways of shame and sin, It’s the hand of a priest that will absolve us—-not once, but again and again

To be Jesus- “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis. When you have Christ, you are rich, and He will be sufficient for you. He will provide for you, and be your faithful and provident helper in all things, so that you need not trust in others. For humans soon change, and they quickly fail; but Christ abides forever, and stand by us firmly to the end. We must not place great confidence in frail and mortal man, useful though he may be, and dearly beloved, nor should you be grieved if he sometimes opposes and contradicts you.