2nd November 2008 - All Souls
This year the Feast of All Souls falls very appropriately on a Sunday, the day of resurrection. This day is a special day in which the Church remembers all the faithful departed. Priests on this day can celebrate three masses for the dead; such is the importance of today's remembrance. On this day and indeed during the whole month of November we are invited to reflect on the whole mystery of human death. As you came to mass today you would have noticed how nature is dying, the leaves are fast falling from the trees, the days are so short and the nights so very long. November can be a lonely time of the year before our hearts become imbued with the hope of Christmas.
I have noticed in more recent years a decline in the number of those believing in eternal life, these even among those who attend church regularly. Of course many of us wonder from time to time, many of us cannot understand what heaven must be like, many of us would prefer if there was even one sign that eternal life really exists. Yet all we have is our faith, our faith that tells us with God all things are possible. We also have the life of Jesus Christ and the testimony of those who lived with him; saw him suffer and die, and saw him after he was raised from the dead. The events of that first Easter Sunday changed them forever. Their witness has travelled down the last twenty centuries; it has never faded from the hearts of the disciples of Jesus in every generation. No wonder St Paul could taunt death when he said 'O death where is thy victory, O death where is thy sting?
At every Mass we believe that heaven and earth become one as both the living and the dead worship the Lamb who was slain. That is why Mass can never be boring, no matter what the eloquence or not of the priest. In a few minutes we will once more recall the Last Supper when the Son of God gave himself as food and drink. At the consecration of the bread and the wine let us be aware that our beloved dead are with us in a very special way. May their prayer for us give us hope and assurance as we continue on our pilgrim way. Amen.
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Homilies Archive
2009 HOMILIES
25th December 2008
Christmas
21st December 2008
14th December 2008
8th December 2008
Immaculate Conception
7th December 2008
2nd Sunday of Advent
30th November 2008
1st Sunday of Advent
23rd November 2008
Christ the King
16th November 2008
2nd November 2008
All Souls
1st November 2008
All Saints
26th October 2008
12th October 2008
5th October 2008
28th September 2008
21st September 2008
14th September 2008
7th September 2008
31st August 2008
24th August 2008
17th August 2008
15th August 2008
Assumption
10th August 2008
3rd August 2008
20th July 2008
13th July 2008
29th June 2008
22nd June 2008
1st June 2008
23rd March 2008
Easter Sunday
22nd March 2008
Easter Vigil
2nd March 2008
24th February 2008
17th February 2008
10th February 2008
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