Praying for all on this day of the dead. All Souls Day!
Praying for all on this day of the dead. All Souls Day! The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want! Our lives are in the hands of God. He sent us too like He did Jesus! We need to remember we are all sent, we all have a purpose here. We are all called to follow Jesus, to be like Him while here, but we will all die of sin in this world, but if we turn to Jesus, have faith, follow Him, we are promised life eternal in Heaven with Him! We will all die someday on this Earth School. But we can have life eternal in Heaven with Jesus when we follow Him in this life! When we imitate, forgive, and love like Him! Death is inevitable for all of us here. C.S. Lewis says that there are only three choices when it comes to dealing with death, we can fear it, or we can embrace it, or we can ignore it. Most of us as human ignore the fact that death is real. Many of us fear it. Few of us embrace it, but we will all die. We need to realize that we have a chance and choices here while we are alive. We can either follow Jesus and be like Him or we can be slaves for Satan and be consumed by things of this world living selfishly. What will you do? Will you follow Jesus? Or will you be a slave to Satan and things of this world while you go about your life journey? We need to be prepared for death. We can also embrace it. It will happen. My father always used to say he was ready to go when the good Lord wanted him. He wasn't afraid of death. Although I think he was some, we all are fearful of it to some degree. All three options from C.S. Lewis are healthy in a fair mix, not one over an another. We cannot just ignore it. It is real and we do need to be ready. We also need to pray for our loved ones who have gone before us. I know I do for all, my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, all my relatives. I say the St. Gertrude the Great Prayer for all in purgatory and all who have died recently. I still feel my parents close, they were saints and the glue that kept our family together when they were alive. They were wonderful parents, raising us Catholic and to know Jesus, to be good people, they cared for us, held us, changed us, raises us from babies to adults, loving us so much like God does, real saints. We pray for them today and always, knowing they did what Jesus wanted them to do for us in this lifetime. We must do the same. Like Jesus said, "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." We must do the same, all people God put in our lives, we must love, not reject anyone. We often need to forgive them, for they know not what they do. We need to help others, pray, be models of love, do all Jesus speaks of, so that we too like Him can be raised up on the last day, that we can spend eternity in Heaven with Him and all the faithfully departed!
The following are a selection of the readings that may be chosen for this day.
Reading I
Wisdom 3:1-9
The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.
They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.
For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
In the time of their visitation they shall shine,
and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
they shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord shall be their King forever.
Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,
and his care is with his elect.
Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or:
R. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
Romans 5:5-11
Brothers and sisters:
Hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his Blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Or:
Romans 6:3-9
Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him,
so that our sinful body might be done away with,
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
Matthew 25:34
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
John 6:37-40
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.”
Comments
Post a Comment
The Truth-God is Truth and Love