Father Tom O'Donnell's November Message
All Saints and All Souls Day
It is no accident that All Souls Day follows immediately after the feast of All Saints. After having celebrated the victory and glory of those who are now in heaven, it is only fitting to remember the "poor souls in purgatory," to use the rather quaint but charming language of tradition, and to pray that they too may soon be able to join the saints.
We know that they may be in purgatory because they may still need to be purified, as it were, from any sinful blemishes that may still remain. We don't really know what exactly this purification entails and it may very well be that, in many cases, purgatory is simply the suffering that many experience in their last days on earth.
On November 2, All Souls' Day, the Church encourages us to once again be close to those whom we loved in the past but who no longer grace us with their physical presence. Some Catholics heed this call in a far more direct way than do we Americans. For example, in the Philippines Catholic families spend the night before All Souls' Day at the graveside of their relatives.
I am not about to try to convince American Catholics to "camp out" at a favorite graveside, but we should certainly try to spend part of All Souls' Day once again talking to those who were close to us and are now separated from us by death. There are so many reasons for doing this. First, it gives us the opportunity to enjoy again the enriching company of dear friends. My parents taught me so much when I was a child.
Should their death mark the end of their presence as teachers in my life or should they continue to be my instructors. This feast also provides us with an opportunity to remember those family members and friends who have already died and to whom we owe so much.
To all these good people we owe such a debt of gratitude that we should welcome this opportunity to celebrate their goodness and to ask God to reward them for all the ways in which they have been a blessing in our lives.
This also reminds us of our obligation to be a blessing and a support in the lives of many other people who have not been as fortunate as we have been. In that way, the meaning of the Eucharist will be reflected in our lives and we can then be confident that Jesus will "raise us up on the last day."
As Catholics, we believe in the Communion of Saints. We believe that those who have gone before us have not died in vain and that the tomb is not their final resting place. We believe that those whom we loved are still very much a part of our lives and insofar as the goodness of their lives has brought them to the throne of God, they now stand there pleading for us.
We are often advised that we should look to the future and forget the past. Hard as we might try, however, the past is always a part of us and we ignore it only at our own peril. On November 2, let us heed the encouragement of the Church, and once again unite ourselves in prayer with those who were dear to us in times past and who are close to us in God's love in the present.
Father Tom O’Donnell, AOH Allegheny County and PA State Chaplain
It is no accident that All Souls Day follows immediately after the feast of All Saints. After having celebrated the victory and glory of those who are now in heaven, it is only fitting to remember the "poor souls in purgatory," to use the rather quaint but charming language of tradition, and to pray that they too may soon be able to join the saints.
We know that they may be in purgatory because they may still need to be purified, as it were, from any sinful blemishes that may still remain. We don't really know what exactly this purification entails and it may very well be that, in many cases, purgatory is simply the suffering that many experience in their last days on earth.
On November 2, All Souls' Day, the Church encourages us to once again be close to those whom we loved in the past but who no longer grace us with their physical presence. Some Catholics heed this call in a far more direct way than do we Americans. For example, in the Philippines Catholic families spend the night before All Souls' Day at the graveside of their relatives.
I am not about to try to convince American Catholics to "camp out" at a favorite graveside, but we should certainly try to spend part of All Souls' Day once again talking to those who were close to us and are now separated from us by death. There are so many reasons for doing this. First, it gives us the opportunity to enjoy again the enriching company of dear friends. My parents taught me so much when I was a child.
Should their death mark the end of their presence as teachers in my life or should they continue to be my instructors. This feast also provides us with an opportunity to remember those family members and friends who have already died and to whom we owe so much.
To all these good people we owe such a debt of gratitude that we should welcome this opportunity to celebrate their goodness and to ask God to reward them for all the ways in which they have been a blessing in our lives.
This also reminds us of our obligation to be a blessing and a support in the lives of many other people who have not been as fortunate as we have been. In that way, the meaning of the Eucharist will be reflected in our lives and we can then be confident that Jesus will "raise us up on the last day."
As Catholics, we believe in the Communion of Saints. We believe that those who have gone before us have not died in vain and that the tomb is not their final resting place. We believe that those whom we loved are still very much a part of our lives and insofar as the goodness of their lives has brought them to the throne of God, they now stand there pleading for us.
We are often advised that we should look to the future and forget the past. Hard as we might try, however, the past is always a part of us and we ignore it only at our own peril. On November 2, let us heed the encouragement of the Church, and once again unite ourselves in prayer with those who were dear to us in times past and who are close to us in God's love in the present.
Father Tom O’Donnell, AOH Allegheny County and PA State Chaplain
Labels: homily
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