Scripture for the day | 02 November 2020. All Souls Day

 

(Any Readings from the Masses for the Dead, Lectionary, vol. 4)

1st Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9 A vision of hope for the future, when God will restore his people to happiness On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’ The Word of the Lord

Responsorial: Psalm 26: 1, 4, 13-14 Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation The Lord is my light and my help; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; before whom shall I shrink? (R./) There is one thing I ask of the Lord, for this I long, to live in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to savour the sweetness of the Lord, to behold his temple. (R./) O Lord, hear my voice when I call; have mercy and answer. It is your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not your face. (R./) I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. Hope in him, hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord! (R./)

Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30 Jesus tells us of the Father’s gracious presence Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The Gospel of the Lord

Reflections - Loved into Eternity “See what love the Father has bestowed on us.” The Halloween combination of All Saints Day and All Souls Day reminds us of the reality of death and life after death. These days are a sad reminder that our bodies will one day give out. Somewhere, sometime, sooner or later, we will experience the startling reality of death. Then what? Is it all over for the individual? Nothing but extinction, absolute silence, darkness? Will there be no more love, no more joy, no more laughter? Jesus says there is a future. He walked through the doors of suffering and violent death to come back and say there is light, there is love and laughter and rejoicing, there is a life beyond your dreams and imagination. Jesus offers hope for those who strike out when they come to bat in this life. What does this feast ask of us? Be grateful for what you have. Show your appreciation. How? See the love that is there. See what love the Father has bestowed on us! Why do we pray for the Dead? It’s based on the kind of belief and hope taught by Jesus himself. He once said: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and him who comes to me I will not cast out.” Today the Church is asking us to pray in a special way for all the deceased, for all those whom we knew, but also for all those who died without the news of their disappearance ever being communicated to us. Whereas we know only a minute part of this multitude of people who died since the creation of the world, our creator-God knows them all, and each one in their individuality. God knows all things: he knows what we are doing now because he watches us, he listens to us, he waits for us to turn to him with the simplicity of a child who confides in his Father full of love and tenderness! “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day.” Jesus could not lose those who are given to him and who is guarded by his Holy Spirit! If during our life on earth, a man or woman remains firmly united to Christ by faith, hope, and charity, how could it happen that Jesus would lose him or her – If as Christians we remain faithful to the Spirit who stays in us, then Jesus will raise us up at the last day!

Saint of the Day for November 2 | Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. “If we had no care for the dead,” Augustine noted, “we would not be in the habit of praying for them.” Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased retained such a stronghold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members.

In the middle of the 11th century, Saint Odilo, abbot of Cluny, France, decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church. The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgement of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification. Superstition easily clung to the observance. Medieval popular belief held that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day in the form of witches, toads or will-o’-the-wisps. Graveside food offerings supposedly eased the rest of the dead. Observances of a more religious nature have survived. These include public processions or private visits to cemeteries and decorating graves with flowers and lights. This feast is observed with great fervour in Mexico.

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