A Month of Remembrance
As the trees lose their leaves in a burst of color in the Northern Hemisphere and nature seems ready for the slumber of Winter after the hard work of producing oxygen and cleaning out air of carbon dioxide, and adding beauty to our landscape, we humans are reminded in the liturgies of November of our own slumber in death as the passage way that leads to life with God forever.
The celebrations of All Saints and All Souls at the beginning of this month come from long standing traditions both Christian and Jewish. All Saints used to be celebrated in the Easter Season with the saints being the ongoing fruits of Christ’s Resurrection.
Later centuries moved the feast to the Autumn as a “harvest feast of souls.” It is from the Second Book of Maccabees that we get the tradition of praying for the dead.
Not many of us are comfortable contemplating our own end of life experience. Yet, as his own death approached, a person like St. Francis, who called all things in creation and life his brother or sister, called death his “Sister” and since she was his sister, “what was there to be afraid of?” And we profess in our creeds that we, “look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
During this month then, let us pray for our own relatives and friends and even anonymous brothers and sisters who have gone before us. We believe in the Communion of Saints.
Let us pray with them.
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Thank you for this, Gene. As St. Francis said, what is there to be afraid of. My father has been gone for 24 years, and I still commune with him.
Beautiful piece, Gene. I love the brief months of Autumn. It was a good reminder that the beauty of November begins honoring the saints and those who have left us to take their place in the communion of saints. I lost my father in Autumn. I know he watches over me and my siblings. The sadness of his loss eases into joy that his spirit is lives.
Thank you for this reflective piece, Gene. The beauty of our faith is our honoring of the saints and all those that have gone before us. We have so many walking with us on our journey; this accompaniment gives me so much comfort to know and feel the presence of my deceased family members and my sisters. Blessings!
“So all our apprehensions as well as our hopes for life beyond death are brought into focus by the death of a loved one. To be close to another’s journey enlarges our own view of life and death, and hopefully, death becomes a door, not a wall.”
Healing After Loss, Martha Hickman. …Thanks Gene for the reminder that the veil is thin between life and death. The older I get, I seek and welcome that veil. And I sense the supportive presence of my Ray and others who have passed. Love prevails!
Gene, I was touched when I read your reflection in the PA Newsletter. So glad a wider audience is able share it here. As others have noted, you have deepened my belief that my connection with loved ones who have gone before me continues. I am full of gratitude.