🙏The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, established by Saint Odilo of Cluny in the year 998, is the day on which the Church militant on earth turns its gaze and prayers to the Church suffering in Purgatory. On this day, the liturgy solemnly reminds us of our brothers and sisters who have departed from this life in the friendship of God, but who are still being purified of their faults and the temporal punishment due to sin before entering the beatific vision. Tradition allows every priest to celebrate three Holy Masses, the greatest suffrage we can offer, as it is the very Sacrifice of Christ mystically renewed on the altar. The liturgy of the day focuses on two fundamental axes: the unshakable faith in the resurrection of the flesh, the promise of our own immortality, and the ardent charity that moves us to intercede for the liberation of souls, so that they may as soon as possible attain the perpetual light and peace in the heavenly homeland.
📖 Epistle (I Cor 15:51-57)
Brethren: Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall all indeed rise again, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
✝️ Gospel (Jn 5:25-29)
At that time, Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews: Amen, amen, I say unto you, that the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given to the Son also to have life in himself; and he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man. Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.
🤔 Reflections
🕯️The Gospel of this solemn day confronts us with a central truth of our faith: the voice of Christ has the power to grant life to the dead. The phrase "the hour cometh, and now is" points to a reality that begins with the coming of Christ and will be consummated at the end of time. For the souls in Purgatory, this "hour" is a continuous present of purification in hope. They "hear the voice of the Son of God" not to receive the life of grace, which they already possess, but to be perfected in it and finally attain "Life" in its fullness. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Purgatory is this "final purification of the elect... to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven" (CCC 1030-1031). Our prayers, especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, unite with the voice of Christ, pleading with the Father to hasten for these souls the moment to "come forth unto the resurrection of life," completing their purification by the fire of divine love.
✨Saint Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians echoes the Gospel's promise with a hymn of triumph. Death, the consequence of sin, loses its "sting" and its "victory" through the Resurrection of Christ. For the souls in Purgatory, victory is already assured; they are saved. However, they still experience the purifying effects of divine justice for the scars that sin has left. Saint Augustine, meditating on the death of his mother, Saint Monica, expresses the piety of the Church in praying for the departed: "Inspire, my Lord, my God... my brethren... to remember at Your altar Monica, Your handmaid... so that what she, in her last breath, asked of me may be more abundantly bestowed upon her by the prayers of many than by mine alone" (Confessions, Book IX, 13, 37). This practice, rooted in the faith in the Communion of Saints, recognizes that the "corruptible" body of our faults must put on the "incorruption" of full sanctity, a process that our charity can assist and hasten.
🔗The liturgy of All Souls' Day, therefore, is not a cult of death, but a powerful affirmation of life and mercy. It unites the hope of the resurrection (Epistle) with the reality of judgment and purification (Gospel) within the great mystery of the Communion of Saints. The Preface for the Dead in the Roman Missal magnificently summarizes this truth: "In him the hope of blessed resurrection has dawned, that those saddened by the certainty of dying might be consoled by the promise of immortality to come. Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended." Every Mass offered, every indulgence gained, every prayer said for a soul is an act of faith that proclaims that the voice of Christ is stronger than the silence of the tomb and that his love is a fire that both purifies and saves, preparing the just for the day when, changed, they will rise to eternal Life.
✍️See English version of the critical articles here.
