The liturgical celebration today, Nov. 2, is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.
1. Our spiritual bond with all who are united to Christ Jesus through Baptism is not broken by death.
Rather, our communion with one another exists even beyond the grave. Thus, the Communion of Saints.
2. In this Communion of Saints, charity continues as the Church - in her different states, as Church Triumphant (those who already live with God forever in heaven), the Church Militant (we who are still here on earth), and the Church Suffering (the holy souls in purgatory, awaiting their eventual entrance into the eternal glory of God) - through her every member assist one another unto the fullness of life that Jesus inaugurated with His blessed incarnation and will bring to perfection when He comes again at the end of time. The Church Triumphant intercedes for all the members of the Church even as they inspire all of Christ's disciples by their holy lives and heroic witnessing to the Kingdom of God. The Church Militant prays and offers sacrifices on behalf of the holy souls in purgatory who cannot do anything for themselves but allow themselves be purified so as to be worthy of the beatific vision. The Church Suffering, though while in purgatory cannot help anyone much less themselves, upon entrance into God's blessed presence, joins the Church Triumphant and therefore assists all members of the Church through prayers and exemplary lives.
3. While the souls in purgatory are poor in the sense that they have not yet entered heaven and, therefore, are in need of our spiritual help, they are holy. They are even more blest than us, the living, for they are already assured of living with God in heaven forever someday while we yet struggle to enter through the "narrow door" which Jesus spoke about in the Gospel. Therefore, while indeed they are still being purified from any stain of sin (lesser than than which is mortal), the souls in purgatory are appropriately called "the holy souls in purgatory".
4. Finally, the official title of today's liturgical celebration is "The Commemoration of All the FAITHFUL Departed". In Latin it is renders as "Commemoration Omneium FIDELIUM Defunctorum". Sadly, we often forget the "Fidelium" (Faithful) that qualifies the departed whose souls we offer prayers and sacrifices today (and always). The title of the commemoration cannot be any clearer, for we can help only the souls who, in this life, despite their human imperfections (sin, certainly, included), strove and struggled to live in charity (whose perfection is holiness). They might have not been successful at all times in this regard, but they were faithful in the sense that they rose each time they "fell". For, as Bl. Teresa of Calcutta rightly said, "God does not expect us to be successful but to be faithful." We, therefore asks are the souls on whose behalf we offer our prayers and sacrifices among the Fidelium? And in the spiritual ambiance of today's commemoration, it will do each one of us so much good to likewise question our selves: Am I striving, yes, even struggling, to be faithful to God? If not, then we may not be among those to be commemorated when our hour comes.
"'EGO SUM RESURRECTIO ET VITA,' dixit Dominus, 'QUI CREDIT IN ME, ETIAM SI MORTUUS FUERIT, VIVET; ET OMNIS QUI VIVIT ET CREDIT IN ME, NON MORIETUR IN AETERNUM'" (Jn. 11:25-26). Alleluia!
2. In this Communion of Saints, charity continues as the Church - in her different states, as Church Triumphant (those who already live with God forever in heaven), the Church Militant (we who are still here on earth), and the Church Suffering (the holy souls in purgatory, awaiting their eventual entrance into the eternal glory of God) - through her every member assist one another unto the fullness of life that Jesus inaugurated with His blessed incarnation and will bring to perfection when He comes again at the end of time. The Church Triumphant intercedes for all the members of the Church even as they inspire all of Christ's disciples by their holy lives and heroic witnessing to the Kingdom of God. The Church Militant prays and offers sacrifices on behalf of the holy souls in purgatory who cannot do anything for themselves but allow themselves be purified so as to be worthy of the beatific vision. The Church Suffering, though while in purgatory cannot help anyone much less themselves, upon entrance into God's blessed presence, joins the Church Triumphant and therefore assists all members of the Church through prayers and exemplary lives.
3. While the souls in purgatory are poor in the sense that they have not yet entered heaven and, therefore, are in need of our spiritual help, they are holy. They are even more blest than us, the living, for they are already assured of living with God in heaven forever someday while we yet struggle to enter through the "narrow door" which Jesus spoke about in the Gospel. Therefore, while indeed they are still being purified from any stain of sin (lesser than than which is mortal), the souls in purgatory are appropriately called "the holy souls in purgatory".
4. Finally, the official title of today's liturgical celebration is "The Commemoration of All the FAITHFUL Departed". In Latin it is renders as "Commemoration Omneium FIDELIUM Defunctorum". Sadly, we often forget the "Fidelium" (Faithful) that qualifies the departed whose souls we offer prayers and sacrifices today (and always). The title of the commemoration cannot be any clearer, for we can help only the souls who, in this life, despite their human imperfections (sin, certainly, included), strove and struggled to live in charity (whose perfection is holiness). They might have not been successful at all times in this regard, but they were faithful in the sense that they rose each time they "fell". For, as Bl. Teresa of Calcutta rightly said, "God does not expect us to be successful but to be faithful." We, therefore asks are the souls on whose behalf we offer our prayers and sacrifices among the Fidelium? And in the spiritual ambiance of today's commemoration, it will do each one of us so much good to likewise question our selves: Am I striving, yes, even struggling, to be faithful to God? If not, then we may not be among those to be commemorated when our hour comes.
"'EGO SUM RESURRECTIO ET VITA,' dixit Dominus, 'QUI CREDIT IN ME, ETIAM SI MORTUUS FUERIT, VIVET; ET OMNIS QUI VIVIT ET CREDIT IN ME, NON MORIETUR IN AETERNUM'" (Jn. 11:25-26). Alleluia!
