Memento Mori 2026 - Reading #2 - All Souls
Reading
On All Souls' Day, listen to the Church of Jerusalem at prayer in the fourth century. Cyril is walking the newly baptized through the Liturgy they have just received.
"Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, that at their prayers and intercessions God would receive our petition. Then on behalf also of the Holy Fathers and Bishops who have fallen asleep before us, and in a word of all who in past years have fallen asleep among us, believing that it will be a very great benefit to the souls, for whom the supplication is put up, while that holy and most awful sacrifice is set forth."
The saints are asked to pray; the departed are prayed for. Then Cyril answers the potential skeptics.
"And I wish to persuade you by an illustration. For I know that many say, what is a soul profited, which departs from this world either with sins, or without sins, if it be commemorated in the prayer? For if a king were to banish certain who had given him offense, and then those who belong to them should weave a crown and offer it to him on behalf of those under punishment, would he not grant a remission of their penalties? In the same way we, when we offer to Him our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, though they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer up Christ sacrificed for our sins, propitiating our merciful God for them as well as for ourselves."
We have no crown of our own to bring. We bring only Christ.
Reflection
Yesterday the Church looked up at the saints. Today She turns to the souls still being made ready for the face of God, and She does what She has always done. She prays for them at the altar.
Cyril's catechumens heard this in Jerusalem around the middle of the fourth century, a short walk from the empty tomb. Already the pattern is settled. At the Eucharist the Church remembers the saints and asks their prayers, and then She remembers
"all who in past years have fallen asleep among us."
The skeptic's question is ours, too: what good does it do? Cyril's answer is humble and exact. We have no crown of merit to weave for them. We offer Christ,
"sacrificed for our sins,"
and ask mercy for them as for ourselves.
That is why All Souls is a day for work, not for anxiety. Have a Mass offered for someone you love. Visit a cemetery this week and pray there; from November 1 to 8 the Church grants a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, for that visit made with the usual conditions. The dead cannot help themselves now. We can.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.