An opportunity to express grief
This Sunday we celebrate both the Feast of All Saints and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day). From it’s beginning the Church has looked to its foundation blocks, the heroes of the faith that have inspired others to greater holiness with the recognition of the communion between the Church in heaven and the Church on earth.
Originally All Saints was celebrated on the Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost. This was to link the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit being the foundation of the Church with those who were martyred in the act of giving their lives as witness for the faith in Jesus Christ.
The Following is a statement from the Anglo-Roman Catholic International Commission. “The believer’s pilgrimage of faith is lived out with the mutual support of all the people of God. In Christ all the faithful, both living and departed, are bound together in a communion of prayer.”
We live in a society that has in many ways abandoned its traditional patterns of mourning. The opportunity to express grief is held as a precious ministry of the Church. It acknowledges the hard reality of death but “in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (ANZPB Committal).
Scripture provides us with the comforting assurance “The Souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them... they are at peace.” (Wis 3:1,2). Thanks be to God.
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