Funerals can provide us with rich opportunities for self-reflection and recommitment to our own journey of faith. As we pray for the deceased, we recognize our own need for prayer. As we face mortality, we are prompted to consider anew our own priorities and attachments.

Today we celebrate the feast of All Souls, and are invited to summon our own litany of the saints, and pray for those whose lives have touched our own, and who have died in faith. As we call to mind the faces of neighbors, friends, and family who have died, may we find consolation in today’s scripture which assures us that they abide with God.

In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius suggests one way of making decisions is imagining ourselves on our deathbed and choosing that which would bring us happiness and joy as we look back upon it. Inspired by the witness of the departed, what choices can we make today to abide in God’s love?

—Marty Kelly is an Associate Chaplain at College of the Holy Cross and a Regional Coordinator for Contemplative Leaders in Action in Boston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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