The Purgatory Project http://www.holysouls.com/main.htm

Tribulation Times

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/september.asp?version=63&startmmdd=0101

November 2, 2010  ALL SOUL'S DAY

(Mat 11:28-29) Come to me all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: And you shall find rest to your souls.

LINK:  The Purgatory Project

EXCERPT VIA PHILIPINES: The Only Bridge

Both All Souls’ Day and Halloween, believe it or not, reflect the belief in life beyond a handful of ashes. “Death is not the extinguishing of life,” the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote. “It is putting out the lamp, because dawn has come.” All Souls’ Day liturgy spotlights this reality. “Vita mutatur, non tollitur,” people and priests say in the Eucharist’s preface. For unto your faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away.

The theme resonates wherever religious or laymen pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

On All Souls’ Day, as in other days of our harried, deadline-pressed daily lives, we are swamped with the mundane, like censored SALNs or the impeachment of an inutile ombudsman. We distractedly mumble in the Nicene Creed: “I believe in the communion of saints.”

Yet, this is a capstone of our faith. It says there is a bridge between the land of the living and the land of those called before us. We can reach beyond the divide of death to a vibrant community of life. We touch those we have loved, walked with, even hurt. “Inside the communion of saints, we have privileged access to each other.”

Our prayers reflect conviction in life beyond. “We give back to You who first gave them to us: our faithful dead, whose beauty and truth are even now in our hearts,” the ancient prayer goes. Death is only a horizon, and a horizon is the limit of our sight.

“We thank You for the labor and joys of these mortal years. We thank You for the deep sense of mystery that lies beyond our mortal dust. Lift us up, that we may see further, as one by one, You gather scattered families, from the distractions, strife and weariness of time, to the peace of eternity.”

Whether in San Mateo, the dim catacombs off Rome’s Appian Way, the slightly unkempt Libingan ng mga Bayani or in garishly lighted Philippine cemeteries that double as homes for squatters, All Souls’ Day is about remembering those we loved and, frail mortals as we are, may have forgotten—and reaching out again to them.

“We ourselves shall be loved for a while and be forgotten,” Madre Maria mutters in “The Bridge of San Luis Rey.” But that will be enough. “There is a land of the dead and a land of the living, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

VIA BHLA2:  Death Leads to Life

Membership of the Church is not confined to this world. Yesterday we celebrated that part of it now in glory and today we pray for that part which has gone from this world and lingers on the threshold of eternal happiness. Purgatory is better seen as a process rather than a stage of conversion to God. To pray for the dead is to help them to complete their lives.

PERSONAL PRAYER

Holy Father, look with love on all those who have gone before us: those who helped us, annoyed us or injured us and all those we never knew.

You called them into being to know, love and serve you and to be happy with you for ever.

In the resurrection of your Son, Jesus, you showed that your love is stronger than death.

Lead, then, all the faithful departed to the banquet table to eat and drink and celebrate your love for ever. Amen.

Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 26- "Brief Summary on Discernment"

34. As fire does not give birth to snow, so those who seek honour here will not enjoy it there (in Heaven).       

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This month's archive can be found at: http://www.catholicprophecy.info/news2.html.

 

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