The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

Jesus said to the crowds: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

In today’s reading for All Souls Day, Jesus describes to the crowds his intention for all who believe in him, following the will of his Father. When we die we face our particular judgment. Saint Paul puts it this way in the second reading: “If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.” God prepares a place of everlasting life for all who believe in him and who look to him intently in this life. To look to, from the Greek word theōrōn, means “to discern or intensively acknowledge.” In this life, Jesus invites everyone to look upon him every day with a loving gaze, to behold him, the Son of God so that we may have eternal life. After life on earth, Jesus may call us to further purification in purgatory. As Father Burke Masters says, reflecting on All Souls Day, purgatory is a purification, a way to prepare us to see God face to face with all the saints. Jesus said to the crowds, and he says to me, to all: “I will not reject anyone who comes to me.”

God, help me call to mind today the souls who have gone before me to see you face to face, remembering to pray for them and to ask for their intercession: my parents, my family members and friends of the family, those who have died recently, those dead who are unremembered. The souls of the just, Lord, are in your hand. “They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead,” says the reading from the Book of Wisdom, “But they are in peace.” God, give me the grace to use today as an opportunity to be in communion with them; it is to choose to believe in you rather than in the power of death and that your Son will raise us on the last day. I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. I believe, Lord, in the hope of resurrection; help my unbelief.

God, the souls of the just are in your hand; they are yours. Thank you for your perpetual care of them. Because the day will have a way of turning my attention away from you and obscure my ability to see you, I have the peace of trusting in your mercy and love. Set before me today a means of seeing you in the opportunities and people you present to me, despite what the day demands. Thank you, God, for being present always—stay with me!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Solemnity of All Saints

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest, says the Lord.

The readings today reflect what sainthood is, who the saints are, what they long for (to see God face to face), and how Jesus calls us to sainthood. The first reading from the Book of Revelation describes John’s vision of heaven, where a great multitude stands before the throne and the Lamb. Saint Paul says, “We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” In the Gospel acclamation, Jesus invites all who are burdened to come to him to find rest. In the Gospel reading, Jesus shares the beatitudes with the disciples and the crowds who followed him, promising to the blessed that their reward in heaven will be great. It seems a little overwhelming to consider all of this; yet, the Communion of Saints intercedes for us in a way that brings us closer to the Father. As Saint Thérèse of Lisieux says of the intercessory prayer of the saints: “I want to spend my Heaven doing good on Earth.”

God, help me understand that as I celebrate today’s Solemnity of the Saints the particular path you see for me to bring me to sainthood—something you desire for every one of your children. I feel humbled to know that in the midst of an ordinary day, I have the means to lead me to greater sanctity, not by any of my own doing but by every good you give me in this life. Let that realization deepen my need to follow the lives of the saints and call upon them to intercede for me as I discern from among choices the path that leads to you. When the way is difficult, let me take heart that the striving, the suffering, and even the persecution is purposeful and redemptive. As Pope Benedict XVI said of saints: “They are all in joy, in a festival without end, but, like Jesus, they achieved this goal passing through difficulties and trials, each of them shouldering their own share of sacrifice in order to participate in the glory of the Resurrection.”

Lord, I long to see your face. I long to see the face of those I no longer see in this world but am confident I will see in the next. Through the Blessed Sacrament, I participate in that joy already, knowing that you care for those you call your children in mercy and love, and in the hope of the Resurrection. “Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0CYfJg8-Jw

Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading are an invitation to authentic selflessness. What is there to gain by inviting the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind to dine with us at a banquet? Although Jesus speaks to the Pharisee, he also speaks to everyone who would read and hear the Gospel. It would be unusual for a lunch or dinner to be held for the sake of inviting the marginalized, but the meaning is both literal and and figurative. It would be equally unusual to go through an entire day without encountering someone who is brought low or incapacitated in some way. Those people, the everyday encounters, are the ones to whom Jesus says give without expecting repayment.

Today, God, I will feel the pressure to pursue my own interests and complete all I hope to complete in a neat package. It won’t be that easy. There will be interruptions, requests, coworkers and family members who will call me away from that aim. The words of Saint Paul from today’s first reading are a strong antidote to any delusions I might have about carving out a path of selfishness: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others.” God, help me welcome rather than shun the interruptions of others. Instead, let me find God in those moments, getting my attention. As the psalmist says, “In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.”

God, I am anxious about the day and its tasks. Be my strength. I will forget you during the day and this moment with you will fade. Be present as you are present always in the Blessed Sacrament. How can I repay you, Lord, for quieting my soul?

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. . . . Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’”

In today’s Gospel reading, Luke describes how Jesus notices the people who chose places of honor at the table. I can imagine Jesus silently watching. His notice of this is the divine gaze of God the Father, from whom nothing is hidden. Jesus knows the arrogance and futility of competing for honor. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,” Jesus says, “but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

God, thank you for being present among your people to read our hearts. I want to understand how to live a life that is not in competition with others but in selflessness that allows me to keep my eyes on you. Saint Paul expresses this same self-emptying in his letter to the Philippians from today’s reading: “And this I know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.” Lord, help me put honor in its rightful place—namely, with you—by doing your will and giving glory to your name.

Jesus, just as you observed carefully the people seeking places of honor at the table, let me see with your eyes the choices that lie before me. At the Annunciation, Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Stay with me today, God, so that I can rest in you and through your grace find solace in humility.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings