In the Catholic Church, tomorrow is the Solemnity of All Saints which is also referred to as All Saints’ Day. The feast day is in honor of all the souls that have reached Heaven, known and unknown.
November 2nd is the feast day of All Souls’ Day. While The November first feast day of All Saints’ honors the souls that have attained Heaven, All Souls’ Day remembers those who are still in Purgatory and awaiting their ultimate entrance into the Sight of God.
Many faiths believe Heaven is a given for any deceased person, and it is, if that person has earned it. It is not enough to believe there is a God so much as it is necessary to live our lives knowing that God will judge us according to how we lived the lives He has blessed us with. I meet so many Catholics who say, "Well, I know he/she went directly to Heaven." Believing that won’t lead them to pray for that soul in case Heaven wasn’t a done deal, after all, and the person has some purification time needed in Purgatory.
I think people find themselves believing that Purgatory is a bad thing so concentrate on the best case scenario. I believe that attaining Purgatory guarantees you a place in Heaven eventually while a warmer destination would not . . . ever!
All Saints’ Day, then, is a wonderful celebration of all the saints enjoying their eternity and free of the obvious woes and tribulations of life. All Souls’ Day is a reminder that everyone needs prayer especially those who are waiting out a time in anticipation of Heaven and are unable to pray for themselves.
Whenever we get too complacent about our hereafter and work less hard on our spirituality and morality, All Souls’ Day comes along and reminds us of our mortality. As the old joke goes, the person is shocked at who is and who is not in Heaven when he arrives and the people in Heaven are shocked to see he has made it! Time to pray for all the souls and increase our reflections on our own hereafter.
