In the month of November we celebrate those who are now in God’s care. We pray for them with faith and hope, reflect the Carmelites.

As St Paul says, what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by his death we have been made righteous in the eyes of God (Romans 5:8-10). God does not wait for us to be perfect before reaching out to us in love.

*Remembrance candles. PHOTO:* *Susana Cipriano* *from* *Pixabay*

We thank God for the presence of our departed sisters and brothers in our lives. We recognise them as a gift and blessing to us. Even in the midst of our sadness we are aware of God’s graciousness in sharing them with us and we pray for them with grateful hearts. Our prayer for them expresses our Christian hope that death is not the end of life, and that we will meet each other again in God’s kingdom.

Giving thanks to God is a fundamental character of our liturgy. The word Eucharist means ‘to give thanks’. The word liturgy means ‘to do one’s public duty’. When we talk about the Liturgy of the Eucharist we are talking about the time we spend at mass doing our public work of giving thanks to God.

The Gospel for the commemoration of All Soul’s Day is both emotional and touching. Jesus meets the funeral procession of a young man. He is deeply moved with compassion for the young man’s mother and the young man himself.

The Gospel tells us that the mother is a widow and the young man who has died is her only son. In the times in which Jesus lived that meant that the mother, in addition to being grief-stricken, was now extremely vulnerable - having no male to act on her behalf in legal or financial matters and no bread-winner now to look after her.

In restoring her son’s life Jesus has also restored her life. It’s a double restoration, a double blessing and a double sign of God’s goodness and compassion.

We join with the whole Church in praying that God welcome our departed sisters and brothers fully into the Divine embrace.

This item is taken from a reflection in The Carmelites of Australia & Timor-Leste eNewsletter 2 November.