Nov. 2, 2018: All Souls Day
Nov. 2, 2018: All Souls Day
“All Saints: Part II”
What we celebrate today is not that different from what we celebrated yesterday. Whereas the feast of All Saints commemorates those whom the Church has raised up as models of Christian living to be emulated by all the faithful the world over, what we celebrate on the feast of All Souls is, in effect, everybody else who has died. For a long time, I resisted the apparent segregation, the distinction between the canonized (who already get their own memorials and feasts) and the rest of the baptized. It seemed to me unchristian to make such a separation among the deceased, whose fate alone only God knows at this point.
And so, over the years, I’ve found myself rethinking today’s feast and informally renaming it “All Saints: Part II.” I’m not suggesting that all our departed family and friends necessarily merit formal canonization. Instead, I’m siding with St. Paul who famously called all the baptized “saints.” I’m siding with the Apostles’ Creed that boldly proclaims our belief in a single communion of saints, which includes all those who have lived, are living, and will come after us. I’m siding with the God who “wills the salvation of all” (1 Tim 2:4). I celebrate the love that binds us to our deceased brothers and sisters, both the relatives and friends we knew personally as well as the great Christian models of centuries past.
The good news of resurrection and eternal life that Christ proclaims in today’s Gospel is too extraordinary to celebrate in just one day. So let us take two days!
Fr. Daniel P. Horan, OFM
A Reflection from Give Us This Day
