{"id":16223,"date":"2026-11-01T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T00:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=16223"},"modified":"2026-10-31T12:40:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:40:50","slug":"all-saints-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=16223","title":{"rendered":"All Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who did you want to be as a child? I guess the answer is \u201cit depends\u201d, as most of us changed our ideas at various points. For a long time, popular \u201cchoices\u201d<\/em> among young children have been to be a police officer, a doctor, a firefighter, and so on. As they age, they often shift to more \u201ccreative\u201d<\/em> occupations, like being a singer or a dancer. Becoming a YouTuber or an influencer are relatively modern additions to the list. As their mental horizons expand, their knowledge grows, and their self-awareness deepens, these early ideas tend to crystallise into more specific, realistic plans and prospects for life, largely shaped by the need to decide on further training or education. A common thread in those explorations is looking up to others with admiration as role models and aspiring to be like them. Sometimes, more often in adulthood, it can turn nasty and become jealousy, but the underlying mechanism remains the same. There\u2019s something deeper yet that is driving us: the search for meaning and purpose in our lives.<\/p>\n

More often than not, our dreams and plans have hit the unbreakable wall of life’s reality, forcing us to look for solutions or alternative routes around those obstacles. They have changed the course of our lives to varying degrees, from small corrections to complete changes in direction, often accompanied by frustration or anger, or a sense of unfairness, and other negative emotions. These are expressions of our inability to have full control over our lives, the power we crave most. Such a desire was uncovered millennia ago by the biblical author, who pondered over human nature and described it metaphorically in the story of the first couple. Because of their desire to be in full control of their lives, they fell into the serpent\u2019s trap, who promised them: \u201cyou will be like God.\u201d (Genesis 3:5) <\/em>Instead, they realised their weakness and finitude, encapsulated in the allegorical words: \u201cthey knew now that they were naked.\u201d (Genesis 3:7)<\/em> In fact, this wasn\u2019t the story of one couple in the distant past; it\u2019s the story of every single individual who has ever lived, as well as being mine and yours. Thankfully, the story offers a happy ending of sorts. God looked for the couple and called out, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/em> When they answered the call and admitted their mistake, \u201cGod made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them\u201d (Genesis 3:21)<\/em>, a metaphor for their dignity and relationship with God being restored. They had to learn to trust God again. Whether such a happy ending is part of everyone\u2019s story is a matter of individual choice: how we respond to God\u2019s call, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Having experienced hardship or adversity, it can be hard to trust God, who many assume should offer an easy, trouble-free life if He were a loving Father. However, most parents know that raising children unchallenged, fulfilling their every whim and impulse, can produce spoiled brats, unprepared to face and deal with everyday challenges that are part and parcel of adult life. So, as responsible parents and educators, with our children’s best interests in mind, we set boundaries, say \u201cNo\u201d every now and then, and patiently explain the reasons. We set small-scale domestic challenges and obligations to shape their mental resilience and character. We help them deal with small adversities but don\u2019t sort them out for them. Over time, they gradually become stronger and independent, prepared to find their purpose in life. \u201cThink about how much God the Father loves us. He calls us his children!\u201d<\/em> we heard in today\u2019s second reading (Easy English Bible translation)<\/em>. But we are not a finished article yet. St John continues: \u201cWe are already children of God. We do not yet know clearly what we will become.\u201d<\/em> Then the ultimate purpose of our lives is revealed: \u201cWe know that when he appears we shall be like him,\u201d<\/em> restored to His likeness in which He created us. We will be holy as He is holy.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s solemnity of All Saints is firstly the celebration of the lives of those who have already fulfilled their purpose in life, those officially recognised by the Church as canonised saints, and many, many more others who quietly went through their lives in a saintly manner. Secondly, it reminds us that our ultimate purpose is to become saints by fulfilling our individual vocations as men and women, husbands and wives, parents and grandparents, and in whatever jobs we do. To paraphrase St Mother Teresa of Calcutta: \u201cSainthood isn\u2019t achieved by doing extraordinary things, but by doing ordinary things with extraordinary love.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who did you want to be as a child? I guess the answer is \u201cit depends\u201d, as most of us changed our ideas at various points. For a long time, popular \u201cchoices\u201d among young children have been to be a police officer, a doctor, a firefighter, and so on. As they age, they often shift to more \u201ccreative\u201d occupations, like being a singer or a dancer. Becoming a YouTuber or an influencer are relatively modern additions to the list. As their mental horizons expand, their knowledge grows, and their self-awareness deepens, these early ideas tend to crystallise into more specific, realistic plans and prospects for life, largely shaped by the need to decide on further training or education. A common thread in those explorations is looking up to others with admiration as role models and aspiring to be like them. Sometimes, more often in adulthood, it can turn nasty and become jealousy, but the underlying mechanism remains the same. There\u2019s something deeper yet that is driving us: the search for meaning and purpose in our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/man-343674_1280.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16224,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16223\/revisions\/16224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}