Making All Things New
All Souls Day November 2 *
Everlasting God, our maker and redeemer, grant us with all the faithful departed, the sure benefits of thy Son's saving passion and glorious resurrection, that, in the last day, when thou dost gather up all things in Christ, we may with them enjoy the fullness of thy promises; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Yesterday, November 1, was All Saints Day, the only feast that (BCP p.15) may be moved to the following Sunday, and many parishes do so.
Not noticeably observed in Anglicanism except some Anglo-Catholic parishes, on November 2 the Church commemorates the souls of all faithful departed. In the Roman Catholic Church masses on this day are supposed to be requiem (rest) and this is undergirded by their dogma of Purgatory, which our Church rejected at the time of the Reformation in England.
The Episcopal Church provides no liturgy for commemoration of All Souls Day, but the Church of England has the above collect. Though some scholars have said that any observance should have a substantive underlying doctrine, it seems to me that pastoral considerations suffice with great substance.
A practice in our Church is, when All Saints Day is observed, to call to God the names of each member of the parish who died since All Saints Day the previous year. As well as members of my own parish, several beloved friends will be on my lips when we do that this coming Sunday, and in fact are in my heart and mind this very moment.
One of the Propers for Sunday may be Revelation 21:1-6a:
... I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the tabernacle of God is among men (ἀνθρώπων).
He will dwell with them;
they will be his people,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’
‘See, the tabernacle of God is among men (ἀνθρώπων).
He will dwell with them;
they will be his people,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ 6Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
No one said that tears and mourning and crying and pain are already gone; we know that they are not gone for us, but we have the promise. The words of the one on the throne at verse 5 above bring to mind a scene in The Passion of the Christ. Jesus is struggling through the streets of Jerusalem with his cross, and falls, almost crushed by the weight of it. In grief as great as his agony, Mary breaks through the crowd and rushes to him. Bloody, in excruciating pain, he says to her, “See, Mother, I make all things new.”
Nothing more need be said this morning. Or, perhaps indeed, forever.
TW+
* Collect for All Souls, Common Worship (2000), Church of England