Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
November 2, 2024
Jesus said to the crowds:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”
I love road trips. For me, vacation starts the moment the wheels are rolling. Vivid childhood memories transport me back to the old maroon station wagon, cruising down the interstate with my parents and little brother. Along the way, we’d always sing just to pass the time. There were no screens to keep kids busy back in the 70’s!
One favorite was a campy, call-and-response tune, “Oh, you can’t get to heaven.” We rotated leading improvised, rhyming verses like, “Oh you can’t get to heaven on roller skates ‘cause you’ll roll right by those pearly gates!” Eventually, when every idea was exhausted, someone would intone the coda, “If you get to heaven before I do, just dig a little hole and pull me through!”
Assuredly, we weren’t thinking about theology, but in a simple way, the song reflected our Catholic faith. Each of us, including my ten-year-old self and my five-year-old brother, pretty much expected we were headed for that heavenly community.
Ten-year-old me couldn’t have envisioned the future. She couldn’t have understood how her three traveling companions could be born into eternal life ahead of her! And while each transition would be heartbreaking, no excavation of “a little hole” would be necessary because, in many ways, my parents and brother are as near to me and my heart as they were in that family station wagon.
Although the church sets aside one day to pray for and with the souls of our beloved dead, they are always near. Our faith teaches us that we travel together.
In the Apostles Creed, we profess our belief in the communion of saints, the “great cloud of witnesses.” (Hebrews 12:1) Our souls are members of that communion, along with the billions of believers who came before us, each trusting that we are destined for a real life, as Jesus says in today’s gospel, for eternal life.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask that you gather to yourself all who believe. On this All Soul’s Day, we find consolation in your promise of love for your people. Hold close to your heart those who mourn the loss of a parent, friend, child, or family member. Increase our faith in your gift of eternal life. We ask this through Christ our Lord, 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.
