Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 2, 2019
Jesus said to the crowds, “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”
Reflection
Traditions are the way that the memories of a community stay alive in the present. On this All Souls Day, I would like to share with you a lesser-known Notre Dame tradition, one of sending condolence letters to the families of the deceased members of the Notre Dame family.
Let me start by saying that it’s truly a privilege to send letters to the family members (when we have their contact information in our database) acknowledging that Notre Dame knows of their incredible loss. Each month I look through a large stack of letters to send. Some people I have identified from conversations with our alumni and friends and others come as a complete surprise. I don’t always know the deceased or their family members personally, but I definitely know they are all an important part of the Notre Dame family.
The letters send our collective consolation and let the recipient know that we are not only lighting a candle at the Grotto, but we are also praying for the deceased at a Mass in the Basilica. I sign each letter personally, looking at the recipient’s name and address and the deceased family member’s name and class year if they are an alumnus.
Just over two years ago I lost both of my parents just four months apart. It was a time of great grieving for my family, especially my siblings because we had lost our oldest brother unexpectedly only two years earlier. The cards and letters we received brought great consolation to our family and underscored the incredible power of prayer. Those messages serve as a constant reminder of the obligation we have at Notre Dame to engage our alumni and friends throughout their lives.
As we remember all our loved ones who have gone before us to the Lord, we are comforted by the fact that we do not grieve alone. Our communities of faith, like the Notre Dame family, support us in our time of loss. The feast of All Souls reminds us that, as Christians, we always live between memory and hope. As we hold our loved ones in our hearts today, we are filled with the hope that one day we will be with them again in the kingdom of heaven.
Prayer
Loving Father, we know that death will claim us at our appointed times. But even now, your divine life and sustaining power grow within us, to be claimed in its fullness when we are born into eternal life. We trust your Son’s promise that he will not let us be among the lost. We look forward to our reunion with family and friends, knowing that there will never again be goodbyes and farewells. Grant us your hope that we might live with courage and faithfulness until that day. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today marks the final day of Allhallowtide, as we celebrate those members of the Body of Christ who have gone from this life. We conclude our celebration of the communion of saints by giving prayers rather than receiving them.
Yesterday, on All Saints Day, we honored the Saints—all of those in heaven—for their example of faithfulness in every time and place. Today, we offer our prayers for all those who have died and have not yet reached heaven. (Visit our prayercard page to write a digital prayer card for All Souls day.)
All those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but who are still imperfect, receive salvation, but only after undergoing a purification. This purification—called in the Catholic tradition, purgatory—prepares them to achieve the perfect holiness and union with God that is heaven.
In his Commedia, Italian poet Dante Alegheri goes on a journey through hell, up through purgatory, to paradise. While Dante's Inferno (his journey through hell) is perhaps the most popularly well-known of the books of the Commedia, the two following poems, Purgatorio and Paradiso, are both some of the most theologically profound poetry ever penned and two of the great artistic literary meditations on God's love and divine mercy. In Canto XXIII of the Purgatorio, on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory where the gluttonous are being cleansed of their sin, Dante encounters his friend Forese, who speaks to Dante of the purifying action of Purgatory. The love of God compels them to journey around and around the mountain constantly. Their purification is painful, but:
As we go round this space, our pain’s renewed—
I speak of pain but I should speak of solace,
for we are guided to those trees by that same wish
Which led the Christ rejoicing to say "Eli,"
When with his veins he liberated us.”— Purgatorio, lines 70-75
(Mandelbaum/Longfellow translations)
What purifies them is not the wrath of God; their pain does not come from divine anger. Rather, these souls are experiencing the pain of love—the salvific love of God that led Christ to offer himself up, in love, on the cross. Purgatory is a beautiful illustration of this image of divine love: love that will not rest until each of us is entirely made new in Christ.
As attested to by the practice of offering Eucharistic liturgy at martyria, one of the oldest Christian traditions of our faith is to pray for the dead—we’ve always offered prayers and the Mass for those who, like Forese, are in the crucible of purification for the final happiness of heaven. Fittingly, Cedar Grove cemetery on campus is the oldest ministry of the University—Father Sorin established it soon after arriving here in the winter of 1842-43. The images featured here in this reflection are both from Cedar Grove cemetery.
All Saints Day and All Souls Day and the small triduum of Allhallowtide remind us that we are part of a family that is wider and deeper than our physical world. This family of faith is a reality by which we are connected with all of the faithful who have tried to walk in the way of Christ through the ages. This is our community of faith. In Christ, we all form one mystical body.
Let us take a moment today to offer a prayer for those who have died but who have not yet reached the full glory of paradise, who still, like us, only taste its beauty and pain as it purifies our hearts on our pilgrimage to our final, heavenly end. Let us remember all of those from the Notre Dame family who have died, and all the faithful departed.
On the feast of All Souls’ Day, let us pray for the souls in Purgatory and all the faithful departed, especially those from the Notre Dame family and our own families.