Not just memory but honor is given by the living for all dear departed every this day of the year. People pray for all the souls in purgatory in the faith that they will merit the heaven that Jesus promised. The assurance of salvation was made by Jesus for all the faithful who lived to follow His will. But man had fallen short of God’s grace by living in sin apart from the way that Jesus had shown. It is due to man’s sinful ways that we fall from the merit of the salvation that God promised us.

As death comes like a theft in the night, man is caught unprepared and unworthy of God’s promised salvation. In most cases, man is called by his creator without even being able to seek pardon and reconciliation. But even as man is caught in his sinful and unworthy state, there is hope of salvation for those who believe that there is purgatory where souls are purged and cleansed to be worthy of that promised place in God’s kingdom.

This is the reason why Catholics pray for their dead in the hope and faith that their dear departed will someday be cleansed to merit salvation. Prayers for the dead will earn merit for the souls of those who died unworthy of salvation. The visit to the graves of our dead during All Souls Day is done not just to remember our dead for the fond memories of their lives but more importantly, to pray so that someday they will merit salvation and be able to enter God’s kingdom.

It is truly a wonderful tradition that we set aside a special day every year for our dead. The day ought to be solemn as we remember our loved ones and pray for their salvation. We may not have been remembering them often as we should and pray for their salvation as often as we must but we have this day for that special intention. Apart from the flowers, candles and food that we prepare for our dead, we must above all be prepared in prayers and reflection for our dear departed.

In this year’s All Souls Day, we must therefore go back to the basics by giving more focus on the essentials of the celebration. As we visit the graves of our loved ones, we are expected to offer prayers for our dead. There are masses being celebrated in Catholic cemeteries aside from the prayers that families offer before the graves of their dear departed. Such is the most significant practices that we ought to do in our visit to the cemeteries.

If we can only focus on the essential practices for the salvation of our dead, there would be no problems for our peace officers who are made too busy maintaining public safety and order. The frenzy that most people do in the cemetery is the common causes of disorder that authorities want to minimize if not totally eliminate. The noisy revelry and partying with food and drinks in the cemetery had been the concern of public authorities who want to ensure peace and order and public health. We must try going back to the basics by offering prayers by the family and loved ones of those who had been called by God to the great beyond.
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THAT’S when Christ responded to those who asked him what the greatest commandment was. (cfr. Mk 12,28-34) After telling them that the greatest commandment was to love God with one’s whole might, he proceeded to tell them without being asked what the second greatest commandment was. And it was to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

In other words, loving God cannot be real unless one also loves his neighbor, which actually means to love everyone else. Thus, St. John in First Letter said: “If a man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (4,20)

We need to clearly see the link between God and neighbor who should be both the object of our love. We often take it for granted. While we may appear to be close to God because we pray, we profess our faith in him publicly, etc., it may turn out to be only a sham, because how we treat our neighbor, who actually can be anybody and everybody, belies our supposed closeness to God.

This is because how we treat others can actually show how we treat God. If we are indifferent to the others, we can actually say that we are also indifferent to God, even if our appearance may seem otherwise. If we hate someone, we can also say that we are hating God.

Why? Because if we truly are believers and lovers of God, then there’s no other way but also for us to truly be lovers of everyone else, no matter, how the others are. God loves everyone, even if not everyone may love him in return.

What we can draw from these considerations is that for us enter and share in the very life and nature of God, we have to learn to love everyone, as Christ himself commanded us: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 13,34) He even commanded us to love our enemies. (cfr. Mt 5,43)

This may sound like a very tall, if not, impossible order, but it’s clear that for us to share the very nature and life of God, as we are meant to do, we have to have the same love God in Christ has for everyone.

This will require a lot of effort and sacrifice, but we should never forget that we can only have that love if we ourselves are receptive and responsive to the enabling grace that God himself pours and shares with us. We only have that kind of love if we truly are with God. On the part of God, he is never stinting in sharing what he has with us. Again, things depend on how receptive and responsive we are to that grace.

We should just learn how to truly identify ourselves with God. This we can do if we, with faith, would just follow God’s will for us, as shown to us by Christ. We need to make acts of faith especially because our reason cannot fully fathom and understand the will and ways of God.

Said in another way, let’s make our reason to be animated first of all by faith rather than my its natural operation which we should neither give up. Our natural reason should follow what our supernatural faith would show us.

This is how we can share God’s very own life and nature and manage to love everyone which is the very essence of God.