RBWords

     The celebration of All Souls Day carries many memories for me, especially when I was an altar boy back in my hometown.  This was one of perhaps two days in the year when a pastor could celebrate three Masses, and since we had a pastor and two assistants, there were a lot of Masses to serve.  The vestments were black and the whole tone of the day was very somber.  Many years later, I became pastor of St. Ann Parish in San Antonio and experienced a completely different All Souls Day.  A visit to the cemeteries was like going to the Rose Bowl.  Everything is covered in flowers and families hold picnics at the tombs of their deceased loved ones, including the favorite food and beverages (or toys in the case of a deceased child).  The three days of Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day seem to bring us face to face with the joys and fears of being human and therefore we must eventually die!  The celebration of All Souls is not meant to be a contrast with All Saints, as if All Saints is for the canonized folks and All Souls is for the rest of us poor sinners!  All Saints and All Souls means all of us on both days!

     Nevertheless, All Souls Day does remind us, in a way, of the "sinner" side of the "saint/sinner" in us.  Our belief in the spiritual preparation period after death which we call Purgatory is highlighted to some extent in this celebration.  Some famous mystics have made Purgatory seem like a junior or temporary version of Hell, but this is not the official teaching of the church.  Pope Bl. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have both reminded us that it is a matter of relationship at the time of death.  Purgatory allows for a tattered but still existing good relationship with God to be "mended" and grow to perfection for eternal life.  On All Souls Day we pray for all who have died and are going through this "relationship mending" process.  Although we use the expression "years" to characterize this, we have to remember that after death, "time" as we know it does not exist!  Our prayers of support and love are meant to encourage and assist our deceased loved ones.  The words of the Book of Wisdom and the Gospel of John quoted above should comfort all of us.  We who strive to live as good a life as we can before God may be confident of God's mercy and that death is simply an event celebrating our final encounter with that mercy!   Praying for our deceased loved ones is an act of love and solidarity, for we must all die and be with God.   AMEN