“What is All Souls Day and…..” Colleen Pressprich October 2022, Brother Francis Store, McKinney, TX. USA.

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(Jesus said) “…..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.”  John 6:40.

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This Sunday is reminiscent of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul this year when the feast took precedence over the Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today we have another such upset of the regular progress of Sundays through the Church year. In the old days it was unthinkable that a day such as All Souls would take precedence over the regular Sunday, but the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s thought otherwise, and here we have the consequence. So today our thoughts and prayers turn to our beloved dead, to pray for them and to ask they be admitted into eternal happiness and peace. And perhaps a prayer could be offered for those who have no-one to pray for them. And today’s readings are designed to encourage us to intercede for our predecessors to ask for God’s mercy and love to envelope them and take them to heaven. It is our Christian duty so to do! 

Now in the first reading from the Hebrew Book of Wisdom, there is a clear hope expressed for the dead: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.” This is a huge progression from an earlier, more traditional view, where all the dead went to Sheol, a place of gloom, with both good and bad people, all of them, no matter how they had lived their lives. It represents an advance towards our Christian point of view, and as such the Book of Wisdom, written very close to the Christian era, has a more “modern” view of the dead. Much more can be said of this book of the Old Testament, but not here. You will recall in the Apostles Creed, we recite that Jesus “descended into hell”, into Sheol, to release all the righteous but imprisoned there. The Catholic idea of purgatory is similar, though there we are imprisoned by our own sins, until cleansed. 

The Harrowing of Hell, Fra Angelico c.1442, Convent of San Marco, Florence, Italy.

Indeed, our Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters emphasize this idea of Christ liberating the righteous from Sheol rather than concentrating on the silent tomb during Holy Saturday. That is a much more active, positive idea, suggesting Our Lord was busy fulfilling his mission to the very end, liberating not only the living, but also the dead. Love, of course, was at the root of all this, as ever. To the Lord, the dead were as much to be served as the living, and the picture above is a representation of this. Note the flattened devil under the broken-down door through which the Lord is stepping! Nothing can stop the advance of divine love and its power! 

So how can we help our own beloved dead? This of course is the day of days to be conscious of that. Today we remember those who have been responsible for bringing us to God in one way or another. My own mother, born into the Anglican/Episcopalian Communion, promised to bring my sister and I up in the Roman Church, and she did. She was faithful to the promise she made, and ultimately joined us, becoming Catholic late in life. My father, traumatized by fighting in the Second World War, never really recovered from it, but I only understood all that later in life, after he had died. Now, instead of thanking him (which of course I should have done when he was alive) I can now at least pray for him, knowing God is much more understanding than any of us. So today, in a way, gives us a chance to acknowledge not only those who have gone before us, but also to acknowledge the influence they have had over us, challenges and all, and both be thankful and forgiving for all that. The thought that they might well have been doing the best that they could (even if it is not our best) might be a source of comfort to us as we pray for them. And for those unfortunate enough to have had parents or friends who have been damaged by them, then we could ask God’s love to descend on them and balance out the evil done to them. Christ forgave everyone, even his torturers. It is the hallmark of our faith, the ultimate expression of belief, of love. Forgiving is, as it were, the essential attribute of our faith. 

So today, when we remember those who have gone before us, whether marked with the sign of faith or not, are today the focus of our Christian attention. We are asked to be generous in forgiveness, generous in prayer and above all generous in love. After all, the God of love made us, and so we must have love as a basic constituent in our spiritual DNA makeup! As Christians we are required to recognize that fact, cultivate that reality and let it overflow into our lives, our thoughts, our actions and our very identity. And recognizing that, to remember those who have left us and who may need our help even now, and make sure they receive it. And remember, we are never alone; the Lord stands beside us in all that we do. It is up to us to hope and trust in that truth, and be generous in thought, word and deeds.

Perhaps a few words could be said about the two days preceding All Souls Day. Let’s face it, Halloween seems to have taken much of the glamor (if you can use that word) out of All Saints Day, on Saturday. Even the word “Halloween” means little to many people, when in fact it means the evening before All Saints: “(All) Hallows Even(ing)”, hallows being an old English word for saints, or that which is holy. We even say it every Sunday at Mass: “Hallowed be thy name” or, may your name be ever holy, addressing God the Father. And many Catholic countries have a public holiday on All Saints Day. And then there seems to be a vague linking of ghosties and long leggedy beasties at this time with an ancient pagan Celtic tradition. In all a strange combination of the holy and profane. In the UK it also seems to have overtaken a very old tradition, remembered on November 5th, of the Catholic Guy Fawkes trying to blow up King and Parliament, thus setting back by at least 100 years Catholic emancipation in Britain. You can read all about that here. “Remember, remember, the fifth of November: gunpowder, treason and plot….” But the main focus of these days must be the holy men and women who fought for truth, generosity and love, both the canonized and those we ourselves remember today who made our lives better and happier. Blessed are they… 

God of Love, Christianity.com

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD APPRECIATE THESE THOUGHTS, PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO THEM. 

THANK YOU.

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