Today’s liturgical feast in Christian churches (All Souls Day) is twinned with that of yesterday: All Saints Day. It makes sense really that those we celebrate as saints while they are alive ought to be more vividly in relationship with God in the spiritual realm afforded by their death to this one. The wonderful thing about today’s feast, however, is that we believe we’re all headed to a fuller life and presence of God when we’re finished here. We have evidence from so many people who have had “near death experiences” or other visions of being in God’s presence during their lives on earth that no one should fear death. But we do.
It could be fear of the unknown or resistance to the pain that often accompanies our last moments on earth that causes us concern. Some of us think we have wasted time and wish for more of it to become better people. Whatever the reasons, all evidence is that what awaits us is more amazing than we can imagine. Here’s a snippet of the way Fr. Jim Van Vurst, OFM reflects on death this morning on the blog.franciscanmedia.org. It offers what may be helpful to our own thoughts or those of someone we may know who struggles with the concept or the reality.
One common misperception is that death is something dreadful that takes life away. Death is neither something or someone that acts upon us. It is, rather, the moment when we transition from our life in earth time into timeless eternity. When we die, we gather all of our life’s moments as we give ourselves to our Creator. It may sound poetic, but in reality it is we who embrace the transitional moment of death — rather than it taking us.
Let us celebrate today those for whom we pray and ask them and God to assure for us the grace of a happy death.
There has always been a twinning in my religious tradition of first two days of November. The first is, as we saw yesterday, the celebration of all those people whom the Church has recognized – for various reasons – as worthy of the designation “saint.” In one way, I always thought in my youth that today was more important because we were praying with all our might to get our relatives and friends released from any sinfulness that still clung to them as they left the earth, thereby speeding them on to heaven. It was the only day that priests were allowed to celebrate three Masses in one day and we all spent the day petitioning God to hear our constant prayers for our loved ones.
There are some interesting notes today in the text from Fr. Don Miller (
Yesterday I wrote about saints as my Church celebrated all those designated by that title because of recognition of their holy lives. My suggestion was the same as St. Paul’s: that there have been throughout history and are now many more people who deserve the title than those who are listed on our liturgical calendar. It has always been a comfort to me that we follow yesterday with today’s feast of “All Souls,” celebrating (although not always without sadness) and praying for those of our loved ones and all others who have died. There will be services in Christian communities throughout the world today, often in the evening, where names of the deceased will be read and candles will be lit in remembrance. The light generated by the candles reminds us that the light of the person named is still with us and all of the lights taken together brighten the universe in what we call the “communion of saints.”
