Christian Living

---

Reflection on All Saints Day and All Souls Day remind us the interconnectedness of the living and the dead. It is the reality of a spiritual family bounded by profound bonds of spirituality and connectedness, which unites the diseased faithful with those who are on pilgrimage in this world.

Christianity has been celebrating the twin feasts of All saints day and All souls day in order to encourage the living present and guide the future.

Angels in smile and Angels in sorrow

My grand-daughter used to look at the pictures of saints and say, “These are the smiling Angels of heaven. They are enjoying with God.” She will say again looking at the photos of my diseased relatives, “These are the Angels in sorrow. They will also smile with God if we pray for them.” These words of my four-year-old kid always fill me thoughts of our duty to keep up this relationship in prayer.

Angels of sorrow

We are grieved at the loss of our relation. The death of a loved one can bring about an identity crisis in us; we are suddenly thrust into singlehood from marriage by losing our partner. We lose our parents. We are bereaved by the loss of our friends. This cause of this grief is our interconnectedness. The funerals and rituals are still lingering in our minds with thoughts of sorrow. But we believe that death is not an end; it is only a beginning of a new life. Though they are taken away from this earth, they remain angels of sorrow in our memory.

A day for these Angels of sorrow

On this day, Christians gather in the churchyard or cemetery area and pray for the souls departed. They pay homage to their memories by placing flowers and wreaths on their resting places. The burning candles take the flame of prayers to heaven pleading God for mercy. It has been a traditional custom in India to feed the poor and distribute alms. In some places in Tamil Nadu, they display fireworks and crackers following the Hindu traditions of casting away the evil spirits from their rest places!

Life is eternal

Life is eternal. It does not end with this earth. Death is not something to be deplored. Because it in the face of death that we respond to our faith. Praying for the departed has been a custom in all civilizations of all times. Hence let us rejoice with the smiling Angels and pray for the Angels in sorrow!

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE