Today, in our Catholic faith, we commemorate All Souls Day, as we pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. The Catholic Church has encouraged prayers for the dead since the days the Early Church as a sign of Christian love and charity. A quote attributed to St Augustine of Hippo states that one of the holiest works and best exercises of piety is to offer sacrifices, alms, and prayers for the dead. By the early Middle Ages, monasteries started to mark an annual day of prayer for their departed members. Almost 1,000 years ago, the influential Benedictine monastery in Cluny, France offered special prayers and sang the Office for the dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints Day. This custom spread quickly to the universal Roman Catholic Church.
Traditionally, in our Catholic faith, we remember our deceased family members and friends on this day in our prayers. We here at St Jude and at many parishes throughout the Diocese remember those members and family members who have passed away this past year in our All Souls Day Mass. There are those deceased loved ones who have entered union and eternal life in God. However, there are also those who have died but who are not quite ready for union with God, those who are in need of a process of purification. It is helpful for us to think of purgatory as a process rather than a place. We can only speculate as to what that process of purification is like.
We lift up our prayers for the faithful departed today. We remember those deceased family members and loved ones who have entered eternal life. In the hope of our Catholic faith, we acknowledge that our earthly death is not the end. The first reading from Wisdom today reminds us that the souls of the just are in the hands of God, where they at peace, and where no torment can touch them. Those who live a righteous life able in God’s love in eternal life forever. For us here on earth, our commemoration of All Souls Day reminds us to place our hope and trust in the Lord.
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