Remembering

All Souls

Remembering those who have gone before us is an important practice in our lives.  Each of us has relatives, friends, acquaintances, teachers, mentors, and inspiring figures who have preceded us in death, reminding us that one day we too will die.  For those in the medical professions, countless numbers of patients and their families for whom you provided care also have left indelible impressions upon our memories and our spirits.  

Each person has a history, a set of hopes and dreams - some fulfilled, others not.  Each life has a light to share with the world, each some love shared and received.  When we encounter those who are nearing death we are privileged to hear of these things.  When we are engaged in the lives of others we come to know these things about others.  Every soul has had these hopes and dreams, fears and loves.  Each has the same origin and the same destiny in God.  

In a world where the immigrant and foreigner, migrant and refugee, stranger and prisoner, poor and marginalized are maligned and maltreated we might well remember these things.  We might well try to actually encounter another person and hear their story, share bread with them, and come to know their hopes and dreams, loves and loved.  And perhaps we come to love them as God does, as we are called to do, to remember their origin and destiny is ours, for we are all one human family.  That is what All Souls is all about.