Commemoration of All Souls

 The words that strike me from the gospel for today are when Jesus tells the grieving widow: "Do not weep." (Lk 7: 13) Such tears are often a sign of hopelessness. We can feel powerless in the face of sin and death. We can also feel this way about those who have died. We know that, like us, they had sins and darkness in their lives which would prevent them from experiencing the fulness of beatitude in pure light of God's unmediated presence: "For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil." (2 Cor 5: 10) Yet the Catholic doctrine of purgatory speaks of a hope for those who are sinful even though they have died. Purgatory allows those who need it to be purified of their sins. Our prayers, especially in the Mass, assist them as they engage in this process. In this way we are able to hope for those who have died and long for the time when we will be united with them in eternity free from sin, regret and guilt. Our hope is founded not in our own merits but in the mercy and love of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand and we boast of our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we boast of our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." (Rom 5: 1-5)