Daily Readings Reflection for 11/02/10

Reflection on Today’s Daily Readings by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Today’s Readings


Scripture: All Souls Day,November 2, All Souls Day: Wisdom 3:1-9. Psalm 23.
Romans 5:5-11 or Romans 6:3-9 and John 6:37-40:
Today we pray for all the faithful departed.  Before Vatican II, three
Masses were offered on this day for the Poor Souls.  Visits were made to
the churches to pray for the departed and visits to the cemetery took place
for many who had lost their parents and loved ones.  They, the souls of all
the faithful,. are commemorated and prayed for that they be with God in the
kingdom of heaven.

St. Ambrose has this to say; it fits this commemorative day of prayer:"We
have loved them during life; let us not abandon them until we have
conducted them by our prayers to the house of the Lord."  We keep this
thought in mind through our readings.  The first two readings from Wisdom
and the Psalms are very consoling for us who are among the living. We
realize that the faithful have gone before us with the signs of their faith
and how they have followed our Lord through his suffering, death, and
resurrection.

Our reading from Wisdom is frequently used in the Masses for Christian
Burial and Psalm 23 is almost always used in services that commemorate the
passing from this life of our loved ones into eternal life. "Life is
changed, not taken away."

Jesus reminds us that we are all in the hands of God and that he comes to
help us do the will of the Father as he has done. We hear his voice saying,
" And this is the will of the one who sent me...that I should not lose
anything (anyone)  he gave me, but I should raise it up on the last day."
We trust in these words and the promises of our Lord. We receive
reconciliation and salvation from him for our believing in him who is our
way, our truth and our life. Amen.