All Souls Day

All Souls Day, by William Bouguereau (1859)
Following immediately on the heels of All Hallows Eve and All Hallows Day (i.e., All Saints Day) is All Souls Day. On this day we commemorate all our dead, especially our departed family members, friends, and members of our parishes. It is yet another way of acknowledging, of living, of calling to mind and making present this great communion of saints to which we belong. Hence, it is a way understanding that, because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, life does not end at death, but continues forever and that eternal life begins at Baptism, or that life, at least for those who die in the friendship of Christ, is not the last breath, merely the last smile on this side of the door to our Father's house where we hope to dwell and be happy forever.

To make a secular comparison, All Souls is something like a religious memorial day. It is very appropriate to visit the graves of loved ones, to visit the graves of those who do not have anybody to remember them, most especially priests and religious. If unable to visit graves, pray for our beloved departed, ask them to pray for you, for us. Above all, attend Mass. While All Souls is not, like All Saints, a holy day of obligation, it is an important feast. Besides, this year, it falls on a First Friday. This gives us that much more impetus to go to Mass, to gather as God's People, to make present in the world, in our various communities, this great communion, to show we are Christian by our love for God and one another.

I will post our weekly traditio later this afternoon or this evening. It never hurts to build in some anticipation. One last note, in my litany for yesterday I failed to invoke the intercession of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. So,

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity - pray for us
St. Thérèse of Lisieux- Little Flower- pray for us