November second, All Souls Day, is an often overlooked day on the calendar. It’s easy to see why. The two days leading up to it are widely celebrated. October 31st, obviously, is Halloween, a national day of sugary indulgence, and November 1st is All Saints Day, a day of celebration and remembrance of all those men and women who have found life everlasting in Heaven. Both of these days are wonderful in their own way, but for me, November 2nd is tops.
On November 2nd, this coming Monday, we celebrate All Souls Day. All Souls Day, much like All Saints Day, is one of remembrance. The difference is that, on All Souls Day, we remember all of the faithful deceased. There are two main reasons I love this day so much. It’s a reminder of the importance of our prayers for the deceased and it’s a day filled with hope.
On All Souls Day, we pray for those souls in Purgatory, seeking God’s mercy for them. It is an incredible opportunity for us to participate in God’s mercy. God doesn’t need our prayers, but allows us to be vehicles of his grace and mercy through them. There are few greater gifts that God can give us than to be able to share in His work, and especially when it involves the salvation of souls.
Secondly, it’s a day of great hope and comfort. We pray for all souls precisely because we can’t know for sure where they are. We hope that the souls of our beloved dead are in heaven, but even more than that, we know that our hope is in the limitless mercy of God. No soul is beyond His reach, and that message should bring us comfort knowing, that no matter how much we love the ones we’ve lost, God loves them more. Let’s pray for the dead, and let’s live lives sharing the mercy of God.
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