All Saints and All Souls Days 2025

God made us to show forth His goodness  
and to share with us His everlasting happiness in heaven. (question #3) 
 
There are multiple dimensions to All Souls Day and when we immerse ourselves in this commemoration it can touch us deeply.  On this day, we pray for the departed, that Gods grace and mercy will purify them, purge them from the scars of sin and selfishness, and bring them to the glory of heaven.  In doing so, we are reminded that we are part of the communion of saints, members of the  Body of Christ, sisters and brothers in the family of God.  Death does not eliminate the bonds among us.  We pray in charity for the deceased, and we seek the charity of the saints to pray for us.  On this day, we are certainly encouraged to pray for deceased family and friends, but not exclusively.  This is a day to pray for all the departed, total strangers, precisely because we are all part of the human family.    
 
All Souls Day also prods us to remember our own mortality.  For many, this is something we avoid.  Yet we all know 
that sooner or later we must die.  We do indeed need to be prodded to face this reality.  The ancient Latin saying, memento mori (remember that we die), wisely challenges us to put everything in a much deeper perspective.  The things we value so highly here on earth (and we are right to value them), are not the last word.  Remembering the fact of death, remembering that we personally will die, relativizes these values.  They are not the ultimate!  Worldly success, worldly wealth, worldly recognition pale in comparison to our eternal destiny.  Yet, these worldly things can consume us, dominate us, and when they become too important in our thinking and actions they mislead us and even warp us.  All Souls Day gives us a new vision, broadens our horizons, puts the things of this world in their proper perspective.  God has made us for so much more!  As the quotation from the Creed at the beginning of this message articulates so simply, hopefully we look forward to completing our journey in this life and to the amazing life of the world to come. 
 
Finally, let me suggest a wonderful practice for All Souls Day and in the days following.  Visit a cemetery for a time of 
reflection and prayer.  This indeed reminds us of the reality of death.  If possible, go to the graves of family members 
and friends.  But even if your loved ones are buried far away and going there is not feasible, simply visit a local cemetery, look at the names on the gravestones, and pray for the people whose mortal remains rest there.  If the thought of this makes you uncomfortable, perhaps that is all the more reason to take this opportunity to memento mori.   
 
Jesus, you who took mortality upon yourself to save us, may we indeed look forward to the resurrection in which we 
will be blessed to share in your life   Holy Mary, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.