To Our Departed Loved Ones

All Souls Day

Isaiah 25:6-9; Rom 5:5-11; Mt 11:25-30
November 1-2, 2008

All Saints Day
Yesterday the Church celebrated the feast of All Saints. Every year, on the first day of November, we give honor to all the saints in heaven, both canonized and not canonized, who are now sharing Christ’s Risen glory.

Canonized saints are holy people officially recognized and acknowledged by the Church to be models of holiness. On another hand, un-canonized saints are those faithful departed who are now enjoying the beatific vision or in heaven known to God alone. Some of them shed their blood or left them homeland & loved ones or denied their personal dreams for the sake of their love to Jesus.

On All Saints Day we congratulate all of them and we thank them for being exemplars of our Christian faith.

Saints were ordinary human beings like us, they were rich and poor, parents and celibates, students, professionals, scholars, there were also illiterates, but we call them “saints” because they lived extra-ordinary lives of holiness. They showed us the beauty and majesty of a life of fidelity to Christ that is not measured by publicity or by the flash and glamour but by fidelity.

The saints are not only models of Christian holiness, but because they are now in Heaven they are also our intercessors, helpers in prayer, partners, and patrons. In our parish we have St. Andrew as our patron saint. Through his intercession he is helping us to be heroic parishioners and faithful in our life whilst we ware still here in this world.

All Soul’s Day
And today we celebrate All Souls Day or the commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. It is a time in the year when we remember all our departed loved ones and all our friends who have gone before us in prayer with deep love and faith.

In this Mass we recall all those people whose lives have deeply affected us, people who have traveled a part of life’s journey with us, we also remember those people who from our childhood have assisted us in our life.
Our special prayer for them today can be a way of showing gratitude for their contribution for what we are now.

We remember our departed loved ones not as perfect beings but as human persons with limitations much like we have. If some of those who died may have failed us, they are much in need of our prayer and forgiveness. For this reason, our prayer can be an instrument of reconciliation with those from whom we had become distant or even resentful.

Today we also remember in our prayer, most especially in this Mass, all the souls unknown to us who are still on their journey to the gates of heaven. They are the souls in purgatory undergoing final purification until they become “capable of God and thus capable of unity with the whole communion of saints” in heavenly Kingdom.

Far from being morbid, far from many scary images of death, ghost and spirit we see in television every year during Halloween, All Saints Day and Souls Day are two wonderful occasions of remembering, healing and praying. It is a great day of reconciliation and spiritual reunion with out departed brothers in sisters.

Last night I had a feeling of being a little bit of nostalgic because I missed celebrating All Saints Day in the Philippines. In the Philippines All Saints Day has become a deep-rooted family tradition handed down from generation to generation. It is a national holiday to allow people go to their hometowns to visit the tomb of their loved ones to pay respects. Families spend time at to cemeteries to offer prayers and flowers and light candles at the grave of their loved ones. Many families stay until night time and that makes occasion become a bonding moments or family reunion with relatives and friends.

Praying for the Dead
The feasts of All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day have something in common, and for this reason, have been placed one after the other. Both celebrations speak to us of what's beyond.

All Souls Day invites us to a wise reflection: Death is certain. One day we shall leave this world. All Souls’ Day should remind us that we are but pilgrims, we are mortals, one day we shall leave everything in this life. We leave this world carrying nothing except the love that we shared while we were still alive.

Although death is certain, although death brings us tears, although just to think of death scares us to death, it always has a positive side. Death is the only passage leading to something entirely wonderful. Death leads us to the door of heaven, to immortality, to eternal life with the God of life.

But death can only be meaningful when we believe in Christ’s resurrection. As Jesus promised: "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in, even if he dies, will live."

We heard from the readings today the trumpet sounds of our Christian faith calling us to mind that God is more powerful than death.

First reading: (The Lord God) will destroy death forever…he will wipe away the tears from all faces.

Responsorial Psalm: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid

Gospel: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

Our final resting place is the hands of God. Death will always remain a mystery and will cause us pain. Yet as Christians we live in faith and hope. If we had enough faith, we would face death without fear and welcome it as a homecoming in the house of the Father. God will not let us perish for ever. In Christ we have God's promise that we will rise from the dead for glory and eternal joy.

In this hope we commend today all the dead into the hands of the living God. May they rest in peace. Amen.