Holy Mother the Church places before us her children several important and meaningful celebrations in this month and these are: Solemnity of All Saints on 01; the commemoration of all the Faithful Departed – All Souls’ Day on 02; Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Universal King on 21 and first Sunday of Advent on 28th.
The celebration of the memory of Saints inspires in us and urges us to achieve is that we should enjoy their hoped – for company, striving to deserve to be fellow-citizens with and members of the household of the spirits of the blessed. This solemnity is the celebration of the triumphant Church because those who lived the Gospel and witnessed to it by proclamation and evangelization and walking on the footsteps of Jesus Christ carrying their cross have merited Heaven after their death. Their life is an example for us to imitate and to walk towards the heaven.
The commemoration of the departed faithful is a gentle reminder to all of us that our earthly life will come to an end and it being a passage will lead us to that joyful life with Christ who is our life and resurrection. Our prayers for the departed souls are a powerful means of our solidarity with the suffering church where the departed souls await purification before being found worthy of being in the triumphant Church. We who are the members of the militant church are called upon continuously to fight against evil by ordering our life on Gospel message and values and to look forward to join our brothers and sisters who have gone before us marked with a sign of Faith.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly the Universal King who proclaimed peace, joy, love, mercy and forgiveness. In fact the strong message of His Kingdom He has left behind for us is ‘love one another as I have loved you.’
The season of Advent with the celebration of first Sunday on 28 November will invite us to get ready for the celebration of Christmas by reflecting on the mystery and miracle of incarnation. Therefore, as we rejoice over All Saints in Heaven, we pray for over Departed brothers and sisters so that they too will join All the Saints and we who are here on earth must struggle hard to embrace the values of Christ’s Kingdom which are peace and love, joy and mercy, forgiveness and service. The season of Advent will prepare us for the celebration of Christmas.
May God’s Blessings be upon us all in abundance and always.
X Gerald Isaac Lobo
Bishop of Udupi