Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed [All Souls Day] (November 2, 2025)

Early November marks a turning point of sorts for the Lectionary readings. The Gospel readings for the Sundays of Ordinary Time focus largely on the Kingdom of God as preached by Jesus and revealed in his miracles. From November 1st onward, the emphasis shifts to eschatology – the “last things,” the Final Days, and the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time. We get a hint of that in the secular celebration of Halloween. It continues on November 2nd with All Souls Day and on the final Sundays before the Solemnity of Christ the King. This might help to explain how in the United States, All Souls has been expanded as a popular devotion of prayer for our beloved dead throughout the month of November.

This year, All Souls Day falls on Sunday and it replaces the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. The last time this happened was in 2014. There are a variety of readings to choose from: three First Readings; three Responsorial Psalms; 13 Second Readings; and 12 Gospels. These correspond to the readings assigned to a funeral liturgy, and it also gives enough readings to cover the traditional three Masses that every priest used to celebrate for the souls in purgatory on this day. OCP chose to publish the following readings in its missal resources: Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 6:3-9; and John 6:37-40. 

Purgatory is the central Catholic doctrine of All Souls Day. Instead of discussing a complex theological treatise, let’s see what these readings teach us.

The First Reading from the Book of Wisdom is a source of hope and comfort: “The souls of the just are in the hands of God… For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality.”

The Second Reading from Romans sounds familiar because we heard it as the Epistle for the Easter Vigil. How appropriate to hear this passage today since it so explicitly connects Christian burial with Christian baptism.  “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”

The Gospel passage from John 6 is part of Jesus’ discourse on the Bread of Life. In our lifetimes, we Christian believers have shared the Eucharist with Jesus at his table. He assures us that this union – this Communion – will not be cast aside at death but will be fulfilled beyond death at the heavenly banquet: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

We don’t really know what the afterlife will be like. Scripture and tradition give us some hints that are confirmed by the witness of our Risen Savior. What I love about the Catholic tradition is that it’s so interactive. We on earth remember our beloved dead and pray for them because we believe our prayers will assist them in being more open to God’s loving mercy in purgatory – in whatever way, shape or form that intermediate state of afterlife might be. We do not know the exact details of the afterlife. Let us instead turn humbly to God in faith. Death is a mystery.