Thoughts for All Saints and All Souls Day

“We’re all called to be great saints. Don’t miss the opportunity!” This powerful message is broadcast via reruns of a well-loved TV series of the late Mother Angelica (the contemplative charismatic Franciscan nun who founded EWTN, the world’s largest Catholic TV network).

The Universal Call to Holiness

It’s a very timely reminder because even the saints themselves say that no state in life has a monopoly on holiness. They say that mere “separation from the world” is not an essential ingredient of sanctity. In the olden days, it was thought that if a man were to be holy, he should “leave the world” and live the life of a hermit or monk. In the early days of Christianity, holiness was necessarily associated with martyrdom or monastic virginity.

But the good news is that Vatican II has discarded that view and declared that “all the faithful of Christ, of whatever rank and status, are called to the fullness of Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 4).

A saint may then be a priest, a religious, or a layman. He may be married or single, rich or poor, young or old, learned or illiterate. He is the man who may not give all that he has to the poor but somehow manages to give more than he can. Or she is the woman who unselfishly helps those in need. But this one’s non-negotiable: a saint is one who never forgets to pray each day.

Common Destiny

The reason for the observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day is to impress upon the faithful that all men have a common calling – holiness which can be attained by exemplary Christian living – and a common destiny, which is eternal happiness.

All Saints’ Day in the Church’s liturgy is to commemorate “all those who died in the grace of the Lord.” So, the feast is in honor not only of the known, great, and canonized saints, but also of the saintly people who are not listed in the Church calendar of saints.

In the 1970s, that calendar was revamped to reduce the number of feast days so that “the minds of the faithful may not be diverted from the fundamental mysteries of our redemption” (Mysterii Paschalis, I). The idea was to hold for universal veneration only those saints whose lives and writings are of universal significance, since there are not enough days anyway to honor all of them.

Indulgences

Throughout All Souls’ Day, the faithful may gain merits, also known as indulgences. All they need to do is to visit a church or a cemetery and pray for their deceased loved one and for the intentions of the Pope. One gains an indulgence as often as he makes the visit. This is similar to the practice of visita iglesia on Maundy Thursday.

Special indulgences may also be gained for the dead when a priest goes to the cemetery or a burial place to bless the dead or when a person assists at Mass and goes to confession within a week of the feast.

Although All Souls’ Day is the day set aside by the universal Church for Christians to honor and pray for their dead, the time-honored Filipino tradition has appointed All Saints’ Day as the day of paying homage to their departed loved ones.

Death and Judgment

What does the observance of All Souls’ Day remind the faithful? For one, it reminds them of their mortality – an earth-shaking reality especially for those who think they’re invincible or could take all their material possessions and worldly accomplishments to the next life. It should remind everyone that, as the Lord has so ordained, “It is appointed unto men to die once and after this, comes the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27), for then “God will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6).

Christians are also reminded of their spiritual duty to remember their departed loved ones by means of prayers and Masses, for, as the Old Testament makes clear, “it is a pleasing and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins” (2 Maccabees 12:46). At every Mass, the Church remembers and prayers for: “Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy: welcome them into the light of your face…” (Eucharistic Prayer I).

St. Bernadette of Lourdes, when she was dying, asked the sisters around her to pray for her when she was dead. She said she was afraid that people would think she was holy! But, of course, we know better than that.

We pray for the dead because they had faults and failings just like we do. Most people believe that if we died right now, we would go straight to heaven.  Hogwash! The truth is we should be eternally grateful if we landed in purgatory, because there, we could be assured of the beatific vision. But whether or not we think of the afterlife, we know for a fact that we are selfish and sinful in many ways, and are not able to love with all our hearts. Fr. Bede Jarret, a Dominican priest, puts it this way: “No doubt our dead are restless and eager for their release from purgatory, but only as a lover might be restless who did not find himself fit to meet his beloved.”