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Kathryn Lopez

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15 All Souls’ Day Things that Caught My Eye Today (Nov. 2, 2015)

15 All Souls’ Day Things that Caught My Eye Today (Nov. 2, 2015)

Last updated on: November 2, 2015 at 11:19 am by Kathryn Jean Lopez

15 All Souls’ Day Things that Caught My Eye Today (Nov. 2, 2015) 2015-11-02T11:19:02-05:00 Kathryn Jean Lopez

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So many to pray for today. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. #allsoulsday #november

— Gretchen Crowe (@GretchenOSV) November 2, 2015

We pray fervently for the dead, because we experience God's Mercy, and we trust that his Mercy will never fail us. pic.twitter.com/DIW4tOCSRe

— Fr. Patrick Brennan (@Pathound) November 2, 2015

Remembering our editor, Stratford, and all the faithful departed today. Requiescat in pace #AllSoulsDay

— Magnificat UK&Ire (@MagnificatUKIre) November 2, 2015

(More on Statford here.)

4. From Magnificat in the U.S.:

"The souls of the just are in the hand of God, no torment shall touch them" #AllSoulsDay https://t.co/qhMEBHc9g4

— Knights of Columbus (@KofC) November 2, 2015

How to pray for the souls in #Purgatory. #Catholic #AllSoulsDay https://t.co/113R3WT7uu

— Teresa Tomeo (@TeresaTomeo) November 2, 2015

7. Dominican student Brother Aquinas Beale reminds:

if our hope is founded on our own strength and merit, we are bound to fall into the snares of death. Rather, we throw ourselves and our loved ones upon the mercy and love of God, in whom we place all our trust.

8. C. S. Lewis:

Our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner — no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment.

9. From the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours today:

From a book on the death of his brother Satyrus, by Saint Ambrose:
We see that death is gain, life is loss. Paul says: For me life is Christ, and death a gain. What does “Christ” mean but to die in the body, and receive the breath of life? Let us then die with Christ, to live with Christ. We should have a daily familiarity with death, a daily desire for death. By this kind of detachment our soul must learn to free itself from the desires of the body. It must soar above earthly lusts to a place where they cannot come near, to hold it fast. It must take on the likeness of death, to avoid the punishment of death. The law of our fallen nature is at war with the law of our reason and subjects the law of reason to the law of error. What is the remedy? Who will set me free from this body of death? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We have a doctor to heal us; let us use the remedy he prescribes. The remedy is the grace of Christ, the dead body our own. Let us then be exiles from our body, so as not to be exiles from Christ. Though we are still in the body, let us not give ourselves to the things of the body. We must not reject the natural rights of the body, but we must desire before all else the gifts of grace.

What more need be said? It was by the death of one man that the world was redeemed. Christ did not need to die if he did not want to, but he did not look on death as something to be despised, something to be avoided, and he could have found no better means to save us than by dying. Thus his death is life for all. We are sealed with the sign of his death; when we pray we preach his death; when we offer sacrifice we proclaim his death. His death is victory; his death is a sacred sign; each year his death is celebrated with solemnity by the whole world.

What more should we say about his death since we use this divine example to prove that it was death alone that won freedom from death, and death itself was its own redeemer? Death is then no cause for mourning, for it is the cause of mankind’s salvation. Death is not something to be avoided, for the Son of God did not think it beneath his dignity, nor did he seek to escape it.

Death was not part of nature; it became part of nature. God did not decree death from the beginning; he prescribed it as a remedy. Human life was condemned because of sin to unremitting labor and unbearable sorrow and so began to experience the burden of wretchedness. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing.

The soul has to turn away from the aimless paths of this life, from the defilement of an earthly body; it must reach out to those assemblies in heaven (though it is given only to the saints to be admitted to them) to sing the praises of God. We learn from Scripture how God’s praise is sung to the music of the harp: Great and wonderful are your deeds, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not revere and glorify your nature? You alone are holy; all nations will come and worship before you. The soul must also desire to witness your nuptials, Jesus, and to see your bride escorted from earthly to heavenly realities, as all rejoice and sing: All flesh will come before you. No longer will the bride be held in subjection to this passing world but will be made one with the spirit.

Above all else, holy David prayed that he might see and gaze on this: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I shall pray for: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and to see how gracious is the Lord.

10.

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them." pic.twitter.com/GdWo3KWD1O

— Franciscan Mission (@franmissionserv) November 2, 2015

11. “Attempts to isolate ourselves from the sad facts of life also deprive us of life’s beauty.”

12.

Stained glass window from St Louis Bertrand church, Louisville exhorting Suffrages for the Holy Souls in Purgatory https://t.co/b3AiftBfiN

— Fr Lawrence Lew OP (@LawrenceOP) November 2, 2015

13. And a homily from Fr. Lew:

How wonderful is this truth: that our prayers, lovingly offered for the dead in Purgatory, can console and offer relief to the holy souls – they who long for Love itself, long for union with God, and so suffer the pain of being yet in need of purification until that divine union is attained. The whole month of November, as you know, is especially dedicated to praying for the holy souls, to performing these acts of love and mercy that strengthen the bonds of communion between us in God’s holy Church.

14.

Purgatory is a gift but it's not the goal. Let's pray a little harder today for all our loved ones who have died.

— Ryan O'Hara (@ryancohara) November 2, 2015

15.

Remember those who have gone before us. Pray for them. #HomilyTweet #AllSouls

— Kathryn Jean Lopez (@kathrynlopez) November 2, 2015

Jesus died for you. Give your life to Him. #HomilyTweet #AllSouls pic.twitter.com/v1HY7t1FGc

— Kathryn Jean Lopez (@kathrynlopez) November 2, 2015

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