The Solemnity of All Souls, Tuesday, November 2, 2022

1 Corinthians 15, 51-57

Brothers and sisters: Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality. And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

John 5, 25-29

Jesus answered the Jews and said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.” 

For the Feast of All Souls, the Lectionary gives all the options for the Mass for the Dead.  The readings for the traditional Latin Mass are provided above, and these are happily found among the options in the current Lectionary.

From her very beginnings, the Church has offered prayers for the deceased members of her faithful.  Indeed, Jews were praying for their dead at the time of 2 Maccabees 12, 39-45, before Jesus was born.  The walls of the catacombs under Rome are filled with prayers for the dead, and the early Fathers mention such prayers as well.  The Roman Canon, going back to the 300’s at the latest, bears clear witness to the Church’s care for the souls of the departed.  Days set aside for prayers and Masses for the dead are found in the early Middle Ages.  Under the  impetus of St. Ordilo (d. 1048), abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Cluny, an annual day to pray for the souls in purgatory was established in October, and this spread throughout Christendom.  Later, the day was moved to November 2, the day after the Solemnity of All Saints.

An important point in considering All Souls Day or the doctrine of Purgatory is that not all souls are saved.  Very many are lost through willful ignorance or the outright rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, his Church, and his commandments.  These souls have chosen damnation for their lot in eternity.  But many souls are saved, too.  Some are raised up to everlasting splendor immediately after their bodies die and are left behind as trophies for the Church to honor.  Many others, however, die in the embrace of the Church, yearning for Christ, but whose love is not yet perfected.  God, in his infinite mercy, provides a remedy for these, a place where any remaining threads of attachment to the world may be purged away.  While traditionally this place is pictured or otherwise described as one of fire — a refining fire, not the punishing flames of hell — I tend to think of it as a place of waiting, something like an airport gate.  There, those who are awaiting, at an uncertain time, the arrival of loved ones whom they have not seen for quite a while.  Those who are waiting grow in their desire as the time for the arrival never seems to come.  At a certain point, the desire for the absent loved ones becomes practically white hot.  The sight and the company of the loved ones is all the waiting person wants and he can hardly contain himself any longer.  This kind of waiting results in considerable pain, particularly if there are delays.  But it is all forgotten in the joy of reunion.  For the purged soul, this means heaven, and the full experience of the love that shall never be taken away.

“The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  The sound of the archangel’s trumpet marks the end of the world.  Those still living will die at that instant, for all must die — and rise again in the next instant.  All of us, saved or lost, will be rejoined to our bodies, which shall from then on remain “incorruptible”.  “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”  Death loses its power when even those subject to it do not fear it because their lives belong to Christ.  

“The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”  This verse refers primarily to all those who died before the Death of the Lord and waited for him to come preach to them.  Those who believed in him followed the Lord into heaven while those who rejected him were cast into hell.  But this applies also to the souls in Purgatory for they hear the Lord’s voice as though from a distance and strain in their efforts to become purified so that they follow him too.

Let us pray for the holy souls in their purification to hasten the process along, and let us also ask these souls for their prayers for us that we may become perfect here on earth so as to join them soon in heaven.