Sunday – Feast of All Souls

Gospel – John 6:37-40

The Other Side

Church of the Annunciation, Nazareth

 In Ireland, when you talk about emotion, you don’t say “I am sad”.  You say “sadness is on me”.    I love that because there is an implication of not identifying yourself fully with the emotion.  I am NOT sad!  It’s just that sadness is ON ME for a while.  Something else will be on me another time and that’s a good thing to recognize!

We have all had ‘sadness upon us’ particularly when we experience the passing on of a family member or friend.  In just the past year or so, we at the Kateri Center mourned the passing of a couple of our honored elders, highly respected people of wisdom and faith, our dear friend and cousin Celine after a long battle, Ed, my brother-in-law whose loss we feel every day and Father Steve, my pastor, my mentor and spiritual guide.  Such deeply felt losses, such sadness on all of us!

Today’s Gospel reminds us that God has prepared a place for us in the Kingdom and that what lies beyond the shadow of death is joy and happiness as we re-unite with the Master. So today as we celebrate All Souls Day, let us all take the time to remember and celebrate all those who have gone before us in grace. 

Pray for the 7 million souls who succumbed to Covid not so long ago!  Pray for the 7000 (and counting) native children whose remains were found in unmarked graves at former residential schools!  Pray for the victims of domestic violence, of the war in Ukraine and of poverty and hunger in a land of plenty.  Pray for our deceased parents and grandparents, dear friends and colleagues, mentors and guides!  Pray for all the souls of the faithful departed.

The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
    and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
    and their passing away was thought an affliction
    and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.

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