We are the weird ones. We sign names of the dead on Christmas cards. We hang their photos on our walls. We count them in our family when strangers ask at the grocery store. We tattoo their memory on our skin. We know you may think this is strange. We are trying to tell you a secret. It is the truth we learned the hardest way. It is the other side that changed everything we knew. And today is one of our handful of holy days. Today in the Catholic Church we remember the faithful departed. Which is a fancy way of saying God's beloved. All the souls that came from God and returned to God, changing lives in whatever span of time they passed through this earth of here and now. All Souls' Day is the quiet cousin to All Saints, the overlooked neighbor next to the feast of fanfare. Almost an afterthought - if it did not hold the secret to everything. Which is that we hold within us the promise of eternity. The truth is so quiet that noise clamors to drown it out and despair … [Read more...] about for all our souls
All Souls' Day
the feast of all our souls
I have an uncle I never met. You're right. And you have uncles in heaven, too. Yes, I do. But when you die, part of you stays on earth, right? Is that your soul? No, your soul is the part of you that lives forever. The part that goes home to be with God. Then what stays here? The love you had for people, and the love they had for you. It stays with them as long as they live. Is that your spirit? It's love. That's how love works. Can you love people in heaven? You can. And they can love you, too. I don't want to die. It's ok to love your life here. I do, too. But when we die, we go home to God. That's going to be better than anything we can imagine here. I want to stay here. I understand. But we were made to return to God, too. The soul part of us. Heaven will be like going home. In heaven, nothing is missing. You're right. Not like when we went to the doctor's office and I left my sweatshirt. Things on earth are … [Read more...] about the feast of all our souls
