“We come from God and we return to God…” St. Thomas Aquinas
Today is All Saints Day, the day which follows
the Celtic feast of Samhain which the church sought to Christianize as All
Hallows E’en. The result is an odd mixture of Dionysian excess on
Halloween followed by two days of solemn observance of the departed.
On Samhain, the fall harvest
festival, the veil between the realms of the living and the dead was thought to
be particularly thin and it was possible to encounter the presence of the departed
as they temporarily came back to this side of the veil. A way of honoring the
dead was to provide them with food and beverage, a precursor to today’s trick
or treating. But if one didn’t want to encounter a particular deceased person
with whom one might have unfinished business, it was best to disguise oneself,
hence the beginning of the wearing of masks and later of full costumes.
The awareness of those who have
died has always played a major role in this commemoration. The feast day which
All Hallowed Eve (E’en) preceded was All Saints Day (Nov. 1), a day to remember
the many saints of the church. But, by the 10th CE, the practice of
remembering the ordinary saints, our own loved ones who had departed, began to
be celebrated in a second day of commemoration called alternatively All Souls
Day or the Day of the Faithful Departed, (Nov. 2). Many Mexicans will spend the night in cemeteries remembering their departed loved ones (top photo) on this Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
All the Departed
I have never found the restricting
of our remembrance of the departed to those we deem to have been “faithful” terribly
compelling. At some level, that is little more than self-affirmation at work –
we pray for you only if you agreed with us. How silly and ultimately how petty!
Recalling those persons who
have played major roles in our lives often creates a profound sense of loss. It
is fitting to recognize that loss and to remember them regardless of our
judgments about the state of their spiritual lives. Truth be told, if that really
is one of G_d’s concerns (which, frankly, I doubt) then G_d is in a much better
place to make such judgments than any of us. Indeed, in our Prayers of the
People we Episcopalians routinely pray for “those who faith is known to God
alone.”
It’s also no accident that
our intentional remembering of the departed takes place in the context of a
harvest festival. Samhain was a time of gratitude for the blessings of the
harvest and the end of a successful growing season and the completion of yet
another cycle of life. Every person who has played a role in our lives, whether
productive, challenging, joyful or painful, has helped write a portion of the
book that is our life. For that we should be grateful. And for their role in
that writing, they merit our commemoration of and thanksgiving for their lives.
Who would you remember?
On this day in which all the
saints are celebrated and on the eve of the day all the souls of the departed
will be remembered, I ask you to think of those in your own lives who have died
but before doing so wrote pages, perhaps chapters, in the book that is your life.
I ask you to remember them both aloud and in the silence of your hearts. Perhaps you might light a candle to remember them and say a prayer for them. And,
if you feel so compelled, feel free to remember them in this space as you see
fit.
Remembering Saint Marge, my beloved Mother
I close with a prayer
adapted from the Burial Service of the Book of Common Prayer:
O God of unending compassion, we remember before you this
day our brothers and sisters who no longer are present in this life. We thank
you for creating them and giving them to us to know and to love as companions
on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, be present with us and
console us who mourn their loss. Give us hope to see in death the gate of
eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth,
until, by your call, we return to your presence with all who have gone before
us.
May the souls of all the departed rest in peace.
Amen.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Rev. Harry
Scott Coverston, J.D., M.Div., Ph.D.
Member, Florida Bar (inactive status)
Priest, Episcopal Church (Dio. of El Camino Real, CA)
Asst. Lecturer: Humanities, Religion, Philosophy of Law
University of Central Florida, Osceola Campus, Kissimmee
If the unexamined life is not worth living, surely an
unexamined belief system, be it religious or political, is not worth holding.
Most things of value do not lend themselves to production in sound
bytes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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