All Saints' and All Souls' Days

Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints. In the painting above, by Fra Angelico you will notice that each saint in the painting is different, but all are celebrated together.

All Saints' Day

While this day is special and holy, because it falls on a Saturday this year, it is not a day of obligation. We will have one Mass to celebrate it, at 9:00 a.m. this morning.

All Souls' Day

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (often simply called All Souls') is celebrated this weekend rather than the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time. So at all of our Masses we shall recall those who have passed away in the last year.

Remember Poor Souls

Nearly every day during my regular commuting I drive by a certain roadside memorial.

It has a couple of worn wooden crosses and piles of blue, pink and yellow artificial flowers. Because of the abundance of flowers, I can tell that the person who is memorialized is certainly loved. The flowers are replaced regularly, but they still fade because of the weather and heavy traffic that rushes by just a few feet away.

Every time I pass by, I think about the young woman who died at that spot. I remember details from newspaper accounts. She was a pedestrian who was hit by a vehicle whose driver never stopped to help. The driver later turned himself in to police, but now two families suffer from the mistakes he made that night.

The woman had a boyfriend. She started walking home after the two had a fight, so she was alone when she died on that dark stretch of road. A day or two after the woman's death, I tried to contact her family. I stopped by her house, but no one was home. I was sort of relieved, because it's difficult to talk to people whose grief is so fresh.

Nearly every day I am reminded of that woman and all those who still suffer because of her sudden, premature death. And every time I think about her, I pray for her, those touched by that incident -- and all the souls of the dead. Her memorial has become part of my regular route, and my prayers for her and others have become part of my regular routine.

November, the month when we traditionally pray for the souls of the departed, is upon us. Please remember to pray for them this month and all through the year. We never want to leave them abandoned, without our prayers.

Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

All Saints & All Souls Day

Friday we celebrate the feast of All Saints. In the painting above, by Fra Angelico you will notice that each saint in the painting is different, but all are celebrated together.

For this Holy Day you can attend Mass at St. Columbkille Parish on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. or on Friday at 6:20, 8:15 a.m. 12:10, 5:30 or 7:00 p.m.

All Souls' Day

There will be a special all Soul's Day Mass Saturday at 10:00 a.m. to especially remember our parishioners who have passed away in the last year.

What's the deal Saturday Night?

In the hierarchy of liturgical days, All Souls' Day takes precedence over a Sunday in Ordinary Time. Therefore the readings and Propers for All Souls' Day will be followed for the vigil Mass on Saturday, November 2, (5 & 6:30 p.m) even though it satisfies the Sunday obligation. In other words, the reading Saturday evening will be the ones used for All Souls' Day even though it "counts" as a Sunday Mass.

Remembering the Faithful

There is a monastic tradition of keeping the necrologies or a list of the dead. In keeping with that tradition we have a book in the narthex where parishioners are invited to write the name of their loved one(s) who have died in the last year.

We remember all of them in our prayers this month.

All Soul's Day

In the 7th century monks decided to offer Mass the day after Pentecost for deceased community members. In the late 10th century the Benedictine monastery in Cluny moved their Mass for their dead to the day after All Saint's Day, November 2. The custom spread and in the 13th century, Rome put the feast on the Church Calendar of the entire Church.

In the nathex you can list people who should be prayed for this month. Tonight there will be a special Mass for deceased members of our community tonight at 7 p.m. in the church.

All Soul's Day

November 2 commemorates the faithful departed, asking God for mercy on the people who have gone before us. Christians have always prayed for the dead and have undertaken works of penance on their behalf. In the Old Testatment we see intercessory prayer for the sins of others and for the dead such as how Job's sacrifices purified his sons (Job 1:5); and Judas Maccabeus "made atonement for the dead that they be delivered from their sin" (II Macc 12:46).

In 998, all souls (the "faithful departed") were officially remembered in the Church's prayers on the evening of November 1, and with Masses for the dead on November 2. All Souls Day is now a feast of the universal Church.  Following the Second Vatican Council, all Masses celebrated on All Saints day observe that feast, not "All souls".

We pray for the faithful departed, those baptized, but who need to be completely purified of all stain of sin before they come into full union with God in Heaven. This is most of us. The Church's teaching about Purgatory, the place of purification, is explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (§1030-1032):

"All who die in god's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter heaven.

"The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:

"As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

"This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: 'Therefore [Judas Maccabeus' made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.' From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

"Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them." [Saint John Chrysostom - 4th century]

All Souls

Tonight at 7:00 p.m. there will be a Mass to remember all who have died in the last year, especially those from our parish.