Florida Catholic | Sunday Word

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Commemoration of all the faithful departed (All Souls)

November 2, 2008 :: Wis 3:1-9; Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Rom 5:5-11; Jn 6:37-40

SISTER SALLIE LATKOVICH | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

The Memorial Days of my childhood always had the same ritual: a morning parade in our town, then a rather long drive with the whole family to the cemetery where our grandparents were buried (and other family members unknown to us), and then a gathering with our extended family for a picnic. As I recall it, this annual ritual was akin to the feast we celebrate today. As a community, we pause to remember those who have gone before, and as a living community, we celebrate the life we share now and anticipate in the future.

The traditions of the feast of All Souls owes its beginning to monks of the seventh century who offered the Mass on the day after Pentecost for their deceased community members. In the late 10th century, the Benedictine monastery at Cluny, France, chose to move its Mass for the dead to Nov. 2, the day following the feast of All Saints. This custom spread and in the 13th century, Rome put the feast on the calendar of the entire church. The date remained Nov. 2 so that all in the communion of saints might be celebrated together. In many cultures, the “Day of the Dead” remains a special and important day, with symbolic customs and traditions. Perhaps you, the reader, still remember and abide by these.

The Scriptures we are given to hear today are often chosen for funerals, and are full of comfort and hope as we the living contemplate the mystery of death.

The first reading from the book of Wisdom begins with a very familiar sentence: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.” Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, to be called “just” is one of the greatest forms of praise. For one viewed as “just” is one who is known to be in right relationship with God and with others. Such just ones are believed to be “in the hand” of God; that is, held close, protected. With such caretaking by God, “no torment shall touch them.” That is, even if they suffer terror or torture, the most important part of them, their souls, shall be safe.

Thus, we are called to reflect on the “just ones” who have been models in our lives: grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, friends, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, even those whom we have admired from afar. On this day, we remember and celebrate these souls. We also seek to be like them: just ones, held in the hand of God.

There is a choice for the second reading today: both from Romans, both full of hope in Jesus the Christ: “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts.” The texts go on to reflect on the love poured out in the life and death of Jesus. And further, that we will indeed follow him in our own dying and rising. “If we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.”

John’s Gospel provides us the ultimate hope: “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 them on the last day.”

And so, on this feast of All Souls, the “Day of the Dead,” we recall our own deceased relatives and friends, and we seek to be just – that is, in right relationship with God – through our belief in Jesus Christ.

Sister Sallie Latkovich, Sisters of St. Joseph, is an assistant professor at the Blessed Edmund Rice School of Pastoral Ministry in the Diocese of Venice, a part of Barry University of Miami.

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