Catholics celebrate certain feasts whenever they happen to occur on Sunday. So it is this Sunday – NOVEMBER 2 – when we will set aside the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time in order to commemorate the souls of all the faithful departed -or, ALL SOULS DAY.
The Feast of All Souls connects past, present, and future, especially at the altar. All of our lives are in the hands of a God whose mercy endures forever (cf. Psalm 118). Rest assured, the joy of heaven is guaranteed for the holy souls in purgatory, even if the experience of that joy must wait.
Imagine for a moment having the chance to meet the person whom you always dreamed of meeting. Just before you meet the person you are told that your breath smells and clothes are tattered but you can still move on to your meeting. Would we all not want to appear perfect?
Now imagine meeting God Himself, the glorified Christ the King? Purgatory is not about pain and suffering but rather cleansing and purification. Contemporary spiritual writers liken purgatory to undergoing surgery where it may be inconvenient and uncomfortable for awhile yet we endure to experience the complete healing we so deeply desire.
Friends, we can hasten the moment of perfectly and permanently being made clean through our appeals to God, in prayer and penance, on behalf of those who have entered into eternity.
On the Feast of All Souls the Church declares, “Remember!” On November 2 we especially ask Almighty God to grant eternal life to all those who have gone before us, in the hope of our own entrance, one day, into the splenor of heaven.
