[Credit to @litcatholicmemes. Find them on Facebook. These folks are great.]
November is special for many reasons. Oh sure, there is the whole pumpkin spice thing. (No, contrary to the rumor, we are NOT introducing pumpkin spice flavored hosts at communion between now and Thanksgiving.) More importantly for us Catholics is the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed beginning with All Saints Day on November 1st, then All Souls’ Day on November 2nd. Throughout the rest of the month we continue to commend our departed loved ones to the Lord who said, that I should not lose anything of what (the Father) gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. (Jn 6:39)
It is fitting that we should do so. This year, at the recommendation of the newly formed Liturgy Committee, we will continue to inscribe the names of our departed loved ones in the Book of the Dead. This will be located in the Narthex and will be brought up at the Offertory at every Mass in November.
Similarly, the portraits of all members of the parish family who have into eternity this past year will be on display on a table near the Baptismal Font. It is through baptism that we are born into eternal life. It is fitting that they who have passed through the gates of death into eternal life should remind us of our own eternal destiny. You are encouraged to bring a small (5×7 inch or smaller) framed picture of any of your loved ones who you would like commemorated throughout the month and place it on the table as a sign our communion with the Church Triumphant.
As I said, it is fitting that we do so as a family of faith. Christ has promised that he would lose nothing that the Father had given him, but that he would raise it up. It’s essential that we keep this in mind not only in the month of November, but throughout the whole year as well.
There is a popular heresy out there that when we die, we become angels. It’s a nice thought, but it limps theologically. Angels are purely spiritual beings. They don’t have a body. We are human beings. By definition, we have a body and a soul. This is why the Eternal Word of God became flesh, suffered, died and then rose. Jesus did not come to redeem half of us. He came so that he might raise us up. Through our own resurrection, we don’t morph into something else. Rather, we become what God has created us to be – perfectly human, body and soul.
The faithful departed, and all of us, await the fulfillment of our hope in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.