Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church

All Souls
Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed
Dan 12:1-3, Rom 6:3-9, John 6:37-40
Fr. Carl McCarthy
November 2, 2006 

                We do not often hear the word “unity” used in speech these days.  The word unity has been upstaged by other words like
 disunity, bi-partisan, war, conflict, and terror.  In looking at the front page of the newspaper, listening to the radio news, and watching
most any evening T.V. sitcom, it’s hard to find a picture or story of unity. 

The word unity means being united, a oneness. The commemoration of the Feast of All Souls is perhaps the last place we might expect to hear the word unity, or even feel united. When we think of death, we think of separation and loss.  When we think of death, we think of the sadness brought about by the death of a loved one or a friend. 

All Souls Day has the power to remind us that we are united with others.  As Christians, we are not a nomad people who wander from place to place without a common bond.  We affect the lives of one other.  We are who we are, in part, because of the people who have gone before us. We continue to look like them, to talk like them, and to act like them. We carry their spirit with us because of the bonds of our baptism into Jesus Christ, and the unity that we have in Christ is much stronger than death.

On this day, we also unite ourselves in prayer with all of those who have passed away.  Often we remember those who have passed away by building a monument to them. We name a building, or a street, or plant a tree in their memory. St. Augustine has said that monuments should be built for the living; prayer is the best way to assist those who have died.  When we pray for the life of another, a mysterious healing and forgiveness can be gained.  If the deceased have been blessings to us, we thank God for the gift
of their lives, and we receive healing. If the deceased have burdened us, we ask God through our prayer to help us forgive them, and we receive healing from that as well.

Typically, a pall hangs over our spirits when we consider All Souls Day.  It is a day associated with death and remembering our loved ones who have died.  But in actuality, we should remove the pall from this day. It is really a day about life: your life, my life, and the
 lives of the many people that we remember. This day celebrates the spiritual life that unites us and the eternal life that we will find in God. This day call us to recapture the word “unity” as part of our spiritual and everyday vocabulary. We can say this because we do not know death, for we draw life from the Risen Lord.

This feast of All Souls strengthens our bonds in spiritual unity with those who are living and those who have gone before us marked
 with the sign of faith.

sdrose@bellsouth.net
11-4-2006