Bishop Solis' message for the feasts of All Saints and All Souls 2021

Intermountain Catholic

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November for us Catholics is a time to contemplate death or the end of life on earth as we observe All Saints Day on Nov. 1, and All Souls Day on Nov. 2. The two holy days have close connections. All Saints is dedicated to honor all the canonized saints, as well as those known only to God, who lived exemplary lives of holiness and sometimes suffered martyrdom.

Typically, All Saints Day is a holy day of obligation. This year it is not, because it falls on a Monday.

All Souls is a day to commemorate all the faithful departed. It is not a holy day of obligation, but the Church encourages us to attend Mass on both days in prayerful remembrance of those who died in God’s grace and friendship.

 Our Church has a beautiful theology and teaching about life, death and our destiny. Each Sunday and other holy days, we profess our faith “in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting” (Creed).  Everlasting life is complete union with God in Heaven, the destination for those who die in God’s grace and friendship. It is defined as “This perfect life in communion with the Most Holy Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed. It is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.” [CCC 1024]

Hell on the other hand, is a place for those who die in mortal sin without repenting and who refuse to accept God’s merciful love. Our Church teaches that “God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end” [CCC 1037]. Not every soul goes immediately to heaven. Those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but are not perfectly purified in remission of their sins, undergo a final purification, which the Church calls Purgatory. 

Entrance into heaven is through the grace of God and how we cooperate with his divine plan or will in our lives on earth. The Catechism states, “Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven – through a purification … – or immediate and everlasting damnation” [CCC 1022]. Hence, on this earth, we are merely pilgrims on a journey toward our final destiny; how we live our lives in relationship with God and others has eternal consequences. 

Our Church teaches us to pray to honor the saints, and for all the faithful departed, especially for the souls in Purgatory. The Bible tells us that it is “a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins” [2 Maccabees 12:46].

Formal prayers for all the faithful departed are offered on several occasions. At every Mass, the priest in the Eucharistic Prayer prays for “those who have gone before us with the sign of faith and rest in the sleep of peace;” we have similar prayers during vigils, funerals and burials.

Here in Utah, every year it has been our tradition to celebrate a special Mass for all the faithful departed at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery. This year, however, the Mass will not be celebrated at the cemetery. I invite you join us for the 5:15 Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, or to attend the All Souls Day Mass in your parish. Let us pray for all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, and also to pray for ourselves, that we may never be parted from the Lord. May we have the faith of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, who said, “It is not death that will come to fetch me, it is the good God.”