A UNIQUE OCCASION

Jn 6: 37-40

MESSAGE

What do you do each week as you go to Sunday Mass? If you are to be honest, you will admit that you come here to pray for yourself – for your health, your job, your family, your problems, your desires. Sure, you pray for other people, too. But mostly, you pray for yourself, don’t you?

Today, however, is a unique occasion. The whole church gathers for Mass, not to pray selfishly or self-centeredly, but to pray for others – the others we love, we miss, we wish were here with us still… but are no longer around. We pray for our dear departed brothers and sisters – your mom, dad, sibling, besft friend, spouse, child or a person who was good to you. All Souls’ Day is a time of remembrance, of longing, of connection, of hope that where they are, they too are praying for us and waiting for us there one day.

Should we pray for the dead? The Jews did, even before Jesus’ time. The biblical Book of Maccabees reveals it. Christians from the earliest times believed and practiced it. Many of today’s Christians, Catholic and Orthodox pray for the departed. We believe in the power of God’s love that can unite not only those who are separated by distance here and now, but also a love that can also bridge the unimaginable gap between heaven and earth. In fact, All Souls’ Day is a celebration of the power of uniting love, the love of God that connects all his children, living and dead.

The loved ones we pray for today are also praying for us, and when it is our time to depart from this world, the ones we leave behind will also pray for us and we for them. it is all part of our belief in the “communion of saints.” This is a treasure of our faith in Jesus who died and rose again.

REFLECT

Offer the Eucharist for the dear departed in your life, in your family. Ask the Lord for the grace to continue to be united with them in spirit. Ask the poor souls in Purgatory to pray for you while you struggle here on earth. Amen.

(a song to remember departed loved ones)

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