All Souls’ Day
Yesterday, the Church celebrated all the saints in heaven, the countless men and women through the ages who loved Jesus with a radical love. Now, they worship God for all eternity and celebrate our Lord’s salvation.
Today, on All Souls Day, we celebrate those who are on the way – who are being perfected in God’s love. Here on earth, before we go to celebrations like a wedding or an anniversary party, we prepare ourselves and get dressed up. If we prepare ourselves for weddings and special celebrations here on earth, how much more do we get dressed up or perfected in love for the Kingdom of Heaven!
The Church teaches us that the process of purification after death is called purgatory. In purgatory, our Lord, in His mercy, removes all stains of sin and attachment to sin. He purifies the souls of our loved ones so that they are made beautiful in His sight, perfected in His love.
Very often in our lives, we experience brokenness from the choices that we make and from others. For example, we may hold grudges, have disordered attachments (we love some things too much), carry addictions, or experience unhealed wounds from relationships.
All of this compromises our ability to receive love and give love to others, and particular, to God. Purgatory removes all that compromises our capacity to receive and give love. In purgatory, our Lord forgives, heals, and renews us in love.
Our Catholic faith teaches us that there are many ways that we can express our love for the souls in purgatory. First and foremost, we can always offer our prayers for them. Very often, many faithful Catholics pray the Rosary for the faithful departed.
Second, we can have a Mass celebrated for loved ones or friends who have passed away. Third, we can offer our personal suffering or sacrifices for our loved ones who have passed.
On All Souls Day, it is a blessing to gather as God’s family and pray for the souls in purgatory. This Mass is extra special in that we invite all the families of our parish who lost a family member this past year, who were parishioners here at St. Therese and contributed to our beautiful parish community.
We have special candles for each family who lost a loved one this past year for them to light and say a prayer for their family member. Candles remind us that Christ is the light of the world. A lit candle is a sign of our hope that our loved ones will share in Christ’s Resurrection and rise again.
There is something both mysterious and painful about losing a family member as we can never put into words how much we love them and how much they impacted our lives. We not only miss them, but also the way that they experienced the world.
Whenever we celebrate a funeral, we take a little time to look back and thank God for the gift of our loved ones. We cherish our memories of them, including moments of laughter, graced moments of suffering and heroic love through that suffering.
Our memories also remind us how our loved ones lived their faith. So many of our family members expressed God’s love in their lives in such a beautiful way. They made Jesus present through their smiles, selflessness, or their life of prayer. In short, we thank God for the ways that our family members who have passed have enriched our lives and made God’s love present to us.
As Christians, however, we never just look backward. We are a people of faith and hope and therefore, we also look forward to being reunited again. We look forward in hope to the life that Christ has promised for those who love and serve Him. We offer our prayers that our family members who have passed will rise again. Jesus reminds us, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)
As we hope to be reuniting again with our loved ones, we can always turn to Christ and reflect the Passion of Jesus – His five wounds on the Cross – to bring us comfort, consolation, and strength in our sorrow from the pain of separation.
We can also turn to our Blessed Mother, standing at the foot of the Cross, in her great agony and love for her Son. Along with Jesus, our Blessed Mother can bring us comfort, strength, and peace.
Mary is our Mother, and mothers are aware of the sufferings of their children. She gives us hope that grief and suffering never have the last words. Instead, life, love, and the Resurrection do.
In our gospel, our Lord Jesus gives us those comforting words: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
On All Souls Day, we not only thank God for the blessing of our family members who have passed, but we also offer our prayers with great hope that they will share in eternal life with Christ as they take their place in heaven with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the countless angels, and great multitude of Saints!
Today, we commend our loved ones who have passed to Christ, asking that they see the Son and rise with Him on the last day. Let us offer the prayers of the Church for those who have passed.
Eternal rest, grant unto our loved ones, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace.