2 November 2019
The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
(All Souls)
Today we pray for all the dead, particularly those who have a personal connection with us, and also for those who have no one in this life to recommend them to the mercy of God.
But is also a feast when we remember Christ’s victory over death as well as own future: “if we have died with Christ we shall also live with him.” Or, as the Second Preface for the Dead puts it in the prayer to the Father: “As one man [Christ] chose to die; so that in your sight we might all live forever.”
Then, there is Purgatory. It is a reality. But the souls there have a greater capacity for suffering than we do here on earth. They are also happier: they have the assurance of salvation; we do not. And if we can pray for them; they can also pray for us.
Today I shall ask the Lord to give me, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, a particular grace: The gift of remembering in a special way, by prayers and voluntary penance, each day this month, the souls in Purgatory. May they soon be released to join the blessed saints in giving glory to their Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.