Nov 2 – All Souls Day
Today we celebrate a feast in commemoration of the faithful departed in purgatory, that is, the faithful departed who have not yet been purified and reached Heaven. After Abbot Odilo of Cluny instituted it in the monasteries of his congregation in 998, other religious orders took up the observance, and it was adopted by various dioceses and gradually by the whole Church. The Office of the Dead must be recited by the clergy on this day and Pope Benedict XV granted to all priests the privilege of saying three Masses of requiem: one for the souls in purgatory, one for the intention of the Holy Father, one for the priests.
- Patron Saint Index
Wis 3:1-9
Rm 5:5-11
Jn 6:37-40
The souls of the just are in the hand of God.
“You are a soul not yet at the end of the race – be sure to be a soul that stays IN THE RACE.” — Fr. Mike Schmitz
Today’s readings are filled with hope – in Wisdom we read that the souls of the just are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them. In the Psalm, we read though I walk in the valley of the darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me. In Romans we read Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And in John, we read I will not reject anyone who comes to me.
Oh my glory, what joy, what glorious hope! How can we not praise His name and give unending grateful thanks AT ALL TIMES – right?
But do we? And if not, why not? I know our lives are busy, we have to work, and, well, all the others things that encompass a life two thousand years after Jesus walked on our earth. It’s a busy time that we live in. Busy. Busy. Busy. Busy. We have responsibilities; many people, not the least of which is our family, are depending on us and we can’t stop every other minute or even hour to pray, it’s just not possible to pray as often as we should, as often as we would like. Life doesn’t allow us that ‘luxury’, so we can’t really pray at all times.
But we really can, can’t we?
We pray in the MANNER in which we live, in the manner in which we do everything. Everything. After all, as scripture tells us, every act can actually be a prayer based on the intention behind our actions. God knows most of us don’t live in a monastery or a convent and thus, we don’t have scheduled (by bells) times reminding/allowing us to stop whatever we are doing and pray as a group or individually. And yet, we can easily schedule an alarm several times a day to quiet ourselves for a minute, even just 15 seconds, to send up a prayer to our Father. A reminder to ourselves of who we are, who God is, as well as a witness to those who may be in our space when our alarm goes off. Why not try it?
I am NOT in any way discounting the need — OUR need, not the need of God — for us to spend in consistent, appointed daily time with God one on one in prayer. This time of silence with just God is the most important aspect of our day, of our life really. We are each a SOUL, created in the image of God and our life, our very breath, our very heartbeat is dependent on Him and Him alone. Our relationship with God IS prayer – and it is vital. We are each a soul whom God loves inexhaustibly, and His desire for us is eternity with Him. We have been marked by Him, we are His and He wants us to get to know Him. And prayer is the surest way to learn who God is and to learn the depth, the unending depth of His great love for you (and me) despite our (consistent) shortcomings, failures, our sins.
The enemy wants you to think that praying later is a better choice. That you are not good enough (anyway) to warrant time with God. That you are not worthy enough to be desired by God. That you are not valuable enough to be included in the family of God. The enemy wants you to think that your soul is so soiled that you are not welcome, that God is fine leaving you out of eternal life in heaven with Him and all the Saints.
But that’s the universal lie of the accuser – of the deceiver. Our sins don’t stop God’s love; but we often stop accepting God’s love because we, like Adam and Eve, see our true self and know we are not worthy of His love. We think we could never be a saint. And the enemy wants us to think that, to forget that in Christ, we are made worthy. The enemy wants us to forget that we have a soul that belongs to God. Truthfully, a soul that belongs to God.
You see, we are ALL the prodigal son. We are ALL the prodigal daughter.
We are not called to be sinless, to be perfect; we are called to be faithful. We are called to stay in the race. We will surely stumble again. We will surely fall again. And the enemy will be laughing, chastising us, calling us names, tempting us to stop running the good race, showing us endless – yet empty – earthly pleasures outside of the good race. But we are called to get up and continue running toward God in the footsteps of Christ, the Apostles, and all the Saints before us.
Rejoice in running the race and at the appointed time, you will join all the angels and saints in Heaven as you hear the words of everlasting joy, “Welcome home my good and faithful servant.”
(Today’s OXYGEN by Gina Ulicny)
Prayer: Lord God Almighty. how I praise Your name. Your will. Your ways. I ask for the grace of creating the time and space to sit in silence with You. The grace to be honest with You in all things at all times. The grace to accept Your perfect all-powerful love at all times.
Thanksgiving: Thank You Father. I simply thank You for all the Saints who have paved the way, and are praying for me now from Heaven above, to finish the race.
OXYGEN 
Leave a comment