Homily: All Souls Day
All Souls Day (Death is Filled with Mystery)
I have been in many rooms of people who are dying. I have also been present at the moment of death. My first experience of this was when my grandfather died. I was twenty-three and I remember a sense of mystery at that moment he breathed his last breath. My grandmother and I were the only people present. I was close to him and had visited with him often as his health deteriorated. There have been many such experiences of death since that day.
There are unanswered questions when people are dying. Do they know we are present? When does the soul leave the body? We can never be sure of what a person is aware of. Many is the time when I have gone into the room of a dying person to anoint them and they seem comatose, yet when I am finished, they will say thank you or open their eyes and look at me. That is why I always speak to the person I am praying with.
The mystery of death extends beyond the death bed. What is the journey life from this world into the next? Is it always smooth and easy or are there struggles that people go through? Most people seem to die in peace. Others have unfinished business.
The space between here and eternity is something we know little about. We speak about purgatory. Like heaven and hell, we know little about it. Our pitiful explanations cannot hope to capture the reality.
My explanation is that purgatory is a process, not a place. It is what takes place when we die, and we have that unfinished business that I just spoke of. A purification takes place. God brings healing and peace to the person so they can leave this world behind without regret. Since there is no time in eternity it is not a matter of spending a certain amount of time in purgatory. God remedies things in God’s own time, whatever that is.
Today is a day when we pray for the Poor Souls. Our focus is on trust, having confidence in a loving God to rectify whatever needs to be healed.
Reflection Questions:
- Is Purgatory real? Why do feel the way I do?
- Do we need to pray for the dead? What good does that do?
Dear Parishioners,
I would remind you that a good way of observing All Souls Day is to have a Mass said for the Poor Souls or for an individual that has died. This can be a person who has recently died or someone who has died a long time ago. I must admit I forget to do this, and I am sorry that I don’t remember. There is something consoling about celebrating a Mass for someone we love.
Some have asked can I make a whole list of people when I donate a Mass. The answer is that there is usually only one intention. You can offer a Mass for a married couple or for the deceased members of a family, but only the family name is mentioned. The typical donation is ten dollars. The Mass stipend is part of the priest salary. A priest can only take one stipend a day. If he says more than one Mass in a day, the second stipend goes to charity.
Please pray for those who are mentioned at Mass when you hear their names.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over you today.
Fr. Mark