Today is known as Dia de los Muertos (the day of the dead) in many cultures of the world. For Catholics it is known as the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. Indeed, throughout the month of November, the Church pays special attention to the faithful departed and to the "last things." November is the last month of the liturgical year; so it is fitting that we concern ourselves with remembrances of the deceased as we remind ourselves of the need to be alert, ready for our own last day.
At Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Quincy, Illinois, the college seminary I attended, had a set of stained glass windows that depicted the seven last things (death, burial, particular judgment, general judgment, heaven, hell and purgatory) on the west side of the chapel. I am not sure whose idea it was to decorate the west wall of the seminary chapel in this fashion, but it was a constant reminder to a community of very young men that life does not go on forever. That reminder was made all the more powerful when one of my seminary classmates was killed in a car accident in 1969. His was the first funeral in the seminary chapel and, for me personally, the first funeral to be celebrated according to the new Rite of Christian Burial. Because I served as sacristan during my years in the college seminary, the funeral Mass is permanently seared in my memory.
I am sure that today evokes memories for all of us. Death and the rituals that surround it hold a power unlike any other human experience.
As we celebrated the commemoration this morning, I was struck by the words of St. Paul's Letter to the Romans: “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Though the thoughts and memories which fill our minds today may be sad, the Scriptures remind us that today is all about Hope.
Let us give thanks today for the mercy of God which claims all sinners who believe in the power of Christ's redemptive suffering, death and resurrection.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator