St. Charles

Fr. Paul Magnano's Homily

All Souls’ Day

Honoring Parish History (St. Mary Edison / St. Charles Burlington)

November 2, 2025

The beautiful words of the gospel tell us how precious we are in the eyes of God. “This is the will of the one who sent me,” Jesus says, “that I should not lose anything of what God gave me.” He cherishes and seeks out every soul. Christ wants to bring all of us home. Home.

This time of year, our thoughts turn more and more to the place we call home. Holidays are coming up. There are gatherings around the family table. Home is our destination again and again. Home is people. It is the arms that hold us. The shoulders we lean on. The people who share our joys and our tears.

The ones who pray with you and for you, even after we are gone. We are all a part of that – a community, a communion. Yesterday, we celebrated the communion of saints. Today, we honor a communion of souls. The people we pray for today make up the world we know. They are memory. They are life.

They are my mother and father. They are our neighbors and friends. They are parishioners we all knew and loved. They are Bethel Granahan and Father Hartnett. Padre Miguel and Georgia Morse. Dorothy Oswald and Lyle Ovenell. A church building is – ultimately – the arms and the labor of those who love it.

This Sunday, we are marking “Stewardship Sunday.” We’ll be seeing a short video movie about our beautiful story and history at the end of Mass. I think it shows in a meaningful way how we all become God’s building. Indeed, when we receive the Eucharist, we become living tabernacles, this house of God.

That is what St. Charles is really all about. That’s why we are here today. That’s why we have youth programs and the choir and OCIA and pastoral care and all the things stewardship supports. We do it because of this: the One who draws us to this sacred place. It is all because of Christ in the Eucharist.

It is biblical justice that must hold the highest priority in our parish. The justice of God that lays three demands on the people of God: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. Love every person like God loves you. Love God’s material creation with reverence as gifts too from God.

We are church. But St. Charles Church, in ways large and small, is us. We mark so much of our sacramental lives within these walls. From baptisms to funerals and a thousand moments in between. I tell you. It is the Sacrament – Christ living in our midst. It is Jesus who holds and grows our church together.

We can never forget: our church was founded by a carpenter. And he left us with the tools to finish what he began: lessons in love and sacrifice, fidelity and mercy. These are the building materials of our faith. And as a result, my dear fellow parishioners, it is up to us to pick up the tools and to carry it on.

Paul A. Magnano

Parish Priest

Staff

If you have any questions, please give us a call or email us at stcharles@skagitcatholic.org.