by John Eagers

This year on Monday 3 November we celebrate the commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. The liturgical calendar states:

‘On the day following our celebration of all the saints in heaven, we commemorate the dead who are in purgatory, awaiting their entry to heaven. It is a day of remembrance and prayer for them, as well as of Masses offered to God for “the holy souls in purgatory”. In many places, this day is an occasion for visiting the local cemetery and praying for the dead at their graves’.

This year, as we come to celebrate this commemoration, it is personal for me because on the 11 June my mother died. As I continue to grieve for her, I take comfort in a hope rooted in my faith that she now rests in the presence of God; yet each day I pray, and especially at the Eucharist, that she will be received into the fulness of God’s presence in his heavenly Kingdom and there she will be reunited with my father. Therefore, a question I could ask is, do I believe that my mother is among the saints whose feast we celebrate on All Saints Day or is she among the Holy Souls for whom we pray on All Souls Day?

Dr John Eagers is a parish priest in Paisley Diocese.

Image courtesy of The National Gallery