Today is the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, also known as All Souls. Here is our daily reflection
You can find the readings for All Souls here
In the prophecy of Isaiah, Christians see the image of the suffering servant as referring to Jesus, where the prophet described him as “Acquainted with grief.”
Each of us, in our own way, is acquainted with grief. Not just the grief of bereavement when a loved one dies, but so many other griefs which puncture our lives. Break ups and farewells, leaving behind our good health, our past—through all the changes we experience in life.
In the village of Nain, Jesus meets a woman who has already experienced the grief from the death of her husband. And now she is grieving for her only son. She is more than acquainted with grief—and Jesus is filled with compassion for her, doing the unimaginable by raising him from the dead.
We do not experience the same miracles in our lives—except that, through Christ’s own grief-stricken life and death, and his resurrection from the dead, the possibilities of our life has now changed: the gates of heaven are flung open, and the life of heaven is within reach.
It’s with this confident hope, that we commemorate all our faithful departed brothers and sisters. We pray that they (and one day so will we) hear the voice of Jesus as he reaches out to them and us, and says—as he did the young man in Nain—“I say to you arise.”
Mass today on Monday 3 November is at Ss Dyfrig and Samson, Grangetown at 630pm
South Cardiff Ministry Area 