Sunday, November 2, 2008

Communion of Saints

What I love about All Saints Day and All Souls Day is that they put me in mind of eternity. I think about loved ones who have passed on, as well as historic heroes of the Faith. I imagine what it’s like for these souls now in eternity. What is it like to be beyond the reach of temptation and sin? To be in a place where holiness, love, joy, and peace are the very air you breathe? Where even the further purification of your soul is pure joy because you know it’s bringing about the perfect union of your soul with God?

I know these souls still involve themselves in our lives. That’s why we’re always asking the Saints to intercede for us; because we believe their prayers are effective and can bring us God’s graces and blessings. I also ask the intercession of deceased family members and friends whom I’ve entrusted to God’s mercy. Some of them may still be undergoing further purification, but I believe their prayers are still efficacious.

I often think of my Dad - I pray for his soul to have perfect peace and joy in eternity, and sometimes I even talk to him. I also ask him to pray for me and Mom and Nana. And I believe he does! :)

“To see God when full satisfaction had not yet been made Him, even if the time of purgation lacked but the twinkling of an eye, would be unbearable to that soul.”
St. Catherine of Genoa, The Dialogue

“God is the ‘last thing’ of the creature. Gained, He is heaven; lost, He is hell; examining, He is judgement; purifying, He is purgatory. He it is to whom finite being dies, and through whom it rises to Him, in Him.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar

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