All Saints and All Souls seem so similar; one is about the
souls now in heaven and one is about souls who will hopefully make it there.
They are mushed together in Allhallowstide. However, they are quite separate.
For the Church Militant, we are to recognize the differences between the Church
Triumphant and the Church Suffering and respond accordingly.
All Saints is a joyous feast, honoring the canonized saints
whose names we know but also all the other saints, the non-canonized, the
forgotten. They too have finished the race and share in God’s glory. They too
want us to join them and offer their prayers for us. So All Saints is a time
for us to acknowledge them, and to ask them for our prayers.
All Souls is not a feast. The liturgical color for the day
is actually black, for while we don purple in times of penance for our own
souls, black is the color of mourning for others. The Church Suffering is just
that—suffering. But it is a purifying pain. They need our prayers. We pray for
God’s mercy on them. We hope that in turn, when they reach the beatific vision,
that they will pray for us. So on All Souls we mourn our losses, remember our
passed loved ones, and pray for them.
Together the days really demonstrate the entire
Church—Triumphant, Suffering, and Militant—working together and praying for one
another. Death is not an end. We are the victors.
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